With travel restrictions starting to loosen up all over the world, travel lovers are beginning to get excited about being able to hit the road once again. However, it will still be some time until we can all travel freely, so our first few trips will need to be local. Although, that doesn’t mean we can’t plan a fun weekend activity, it will just be a bit closer to home than we’re used to. Luckily, in our home state of Massachusetts, we have some great places to visit that are already open and are welcoming visitors. Next in our Travel Plans series is “Where to Go in Massachusetts.”
1) The Emerald Necklace Conservancy
First on the list is the Emerald Necklace. The Emerald Necklace is a collection of wonderful public parks and gardens that are just minutes from Downtown Boston. These parks have remained open throughout the pandemic so that the people of Boston could enjoy the outdoors and get some exercise rather than stay cooped up at home. The park system is over seven miles long from end to end and covers 1,100 acres.
It begins at the Boston Common and ends at Franklin Park. Visitors can walk, bike or run on the park’s wonderful trails any day of the week. We are so lucky that we get to enjoy the Boston Common and Public Garden every day on our evening walks, which have been the highlight of our time in quarantine.
2) Cape Cod
While many people who live in New England have summer homes on Cape Cod, there are lots of other ways to enjoy the summertime haven as well. Just a short drive from Boston, anywhere from 1 to 3 hours depending on how far down the Cape you travel, Cape Cod has so much to offer. From miles of impressive coastline to charming villages to mom-and-pop restaurants, this is the place to be as soon as the weather starts to warm up each year.
As the state begins to reopen, many local attractions will also start to reopen as well. And while international travel may be out of the questions for a while, a quick drive down to Chatham for some ice cream and a walk on the beach can be just the thing to cheer you up after months in lockdown. Read all about our past trips to Cape Cod in these blog posts.
3) The Trustees Properties
The Trustees is an amazing organization that runs many of the historical farms and agricultural properties in Massachusetts.
The Trustees have been able to keep many of their properties open throughout the crisis and have announced that many more will re-open on May 20th, including: Crane Beach in Ipswich, World’s End in Hingham, Cordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, and Naumkeag in Stockbridge. We especially can’t wait until Appleton Farms is reopened because it is one of our favorite Trustees properties and we visit every Fall to take in the beautiful foliage.
We hope everyone is hanging in there, we can’t wait to get back out there too and we are excited to see that things are opening back up. Stay tuned for our next blog post in our “Travel Plans” series!
