I'm taking off on another 2 day trip tomorrow
Originally Posted by
jeff400650
I've been doing these fun rides lately... Pick a cool town about 50 or 60 scenic miles away. Book a nice room near town. Ride there (in my case, with my dog along). And then have my wife drive there to meet for a nice, romantic night on the town. It takes her an hour or two, to drive to where it takes me and my 20LB dog to get in a leisurely 6 hours or so. Some fine dining. A hike. Shopping. Maybe live music.
Next morning, charming breakfast, etc... Then I ride home, usually a different route.
It has been great. I get two days of serious riding, and she gets fun little get-a-ways close to home. We are exploring towns near us that we would otherwise never spend a night in, except that for a cyclist, it is a day's journey.
Healdsburg, CA. a few weeks ago
Halfmoon Bay, CA. a couple weeks ago
Tomorrow, Guerneville, CA. Staying at a place built in 1905. Cabins on the Russian River.
I guess you could call it short range, luxury touring with a spousal inclusion component.
Anyone else into this kind of thing? Or lucky enough to have a girl that will do the rides with you?
I quoted your post in its entirety because I have thought about such rides for a long time. My own personal last tour was in 1986 for three days. I recently posted:
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
My wife and I toured together for years, including a cross-country honeymoon. As our son passed the toddler stage (too big for a trailer) she stopped cycling and I am mostly a [solo] commuter. Fortunately
we both enjoy social ballroom dancing, every Saturday night, something we picked up while still mutual cycle-tourists...
A couple years ago I thought about making up such list for weekend getaways, as you described, and posting to the local Metro Boston thread. We live in downtown Boston, and can go out in all directions (except eastward into the Atlantic Ocean). So for here on the Right Coast, counterclockwise around Boston, such destinations would be:- Newburyport, MA (did a mutual cycle trip there once)
- Portsmouth, NH
- Nashua, NH
- Lowell, MA
- Worcester, MA
- Providence, RI (did a car weekend trip there)
- Plymouth, MA (one mutual cycle trip there).
One other destination,within the ring of towns listed, is Cape Ann, about 40 miles north of Boston. Just this year, as I recently posted:
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
Recommendations for bike vacations like Cape Cod?
Besides Cape Cod and the Islands (Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket),
Massachusetts also has “the Other Cape,” Cape Ann, and I recently posted:
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
...
In addition, for the first time we bought a second home in a resort town on a nice cycling route 40 miles long north of our condo in downtown Boston.
The region is also good for road cycling, and train service with the fully assembled bike is readily available. I described it in my
Cycling Guide to MetroBoston as
Originally Posted by
Jim from Boston
…North Shore: Beautiful Atlantic coastline, especially north of Lynn, to include Nahant, Marblehead and Marblehead Neck, on through Salem, Beverly and into ritzy Beverly Farms, and up to seafaring Gloucester, Rockport, Ipswich, etc…
So one could travel by train [and/or bike, in either direction] from Boston to Rockport…which itself is an interesting walkable resort town, including beaches.
Rockport is on Cape Ann on the North Shore, and known as Boston’s "Other Cape,"
in distinction to Cape Cod, which begins at about 80 miles from Boston, with no train service, requires crossing one of two bridges with horrendous traffic jams on the summer weekends, and is best traversed by car. Just last night I was chatting with a colleague who has a vacation home on the off-Cape Cod Island of Martha’s Vineyard. They have to plan their weekends months in advance to secure car passage on the ferryboat.
ADDENDUM: Parking in the center of Rockport is extremely limited [we have on-site parking], and visitors who drive there often have to park a couple of miles away and be shuttled into town by bus. Rockport as a convivial tourist destination was featured in the movie
Coma (but not as the scary part).
I tweak Cape Cod in comparison to Cape Ann partly in response to the query of that original post, and partly because a quintessential romantic getaway song was sung by Patti Page in 1957:
"If you're fond of sand dunes and salty air
Quaint little villages here and there
(You're sure) You're sure to fall in love with old Cape Cod
(Cape Cod, that old Cape Cod)
"If you spend an evening you'll want to stay
Watching the moonlight on Cape Cod Bay
You're sure to fall in love with old Cape Cod..." 
Last edited by Jim from Boston; 03-15-17 at 06:32 AM.