Summer Planning

Doing my best to focus on the positives of life and what there is to look forward to (as well as reminding myself that I deserve happiness), so Dave and I are deciding where we'd like to travel for our mini-vacation this summer.

Since Dave works a normal job (or...less than normal...but, y'know, vacation-wise) and I signed up for summer school (which is a pretty sweet gig, only half days and Fridays off), we'll only be going for a short, overnight sorta trip. And, sorry, not telling when until we get back - we've got a thing about letting the random Internet public know when we're not in the house. ;-) No offense! I'm sure my readers aren't random, but you never know.

As per tradition, we will be heading to Old Forge for our annual Enchanted Forest/Water Safari (where the fun never stops, dun dun)-and-romp-around-town getaway. It involves putt-putt golf, eating at random boutique-ish cafes, and shop browsing. It's more fun than it sounds, really. When I was a kid and many of my friends were going to Florida or Cape Cod (sometimes numerous times a year), I was fine that my mother brought us to Old Forge. Throw in the Adirondack Museum and you've got one very happy girl!

So, as far as our out-of-state-away (different type o' getaway), we've got a couple of factors that we're looking for. Our future trips may not always consist of these, but currently, these are our must-haves:

- History. It doesn't have to be riddled with massively important and life-changing places, but we prefer to get some culture and a level of education out of our trips.
- R&R. I'm hoping that the trip can be rejuvenating, even if it is just an overnight. This can come in several forms, from beach walking (and reading and laying upon) to losing ourselves in unknown (safe) neighborhoods. In other words, taking things as they come and not over-planning.
- Three to four hours away, tops. Since this is only an overnight trip, we figured it would be a waste to travel for 6-8 hours each way. So, yeah, that helps with determining the radius of where we'll search. Or is it diameter? Diameter, right, diameter. d=2r. Thank God for Google; otherwise I'd have to live by McCoy Math.
- Cute shops. Y'know. Just for fun. :-) And hopefully some antiquing along the way.

Those aren't a lot of demands, are they? Eh, maybe. Maybe not. Anyhoo, we've rounded it down to Boston (although it wouldn't be that relaxing and beachy; we've visited in the past and LOVE seeing Quincy Market and all things Freedom Trail...oh, and I guess we took a walk by the harbor, so that was close to beachiness...sans the peace) and several towns in Connecticut. Just trying to narrow it down.

If anyone has some final suggestions, I'm open to everything! Er. You know what I mean. Especially if you've had any great or horribly shareable vacation stories from the places I've mentioned - or any place close to them. :-)