I am finding it a bit hard to believe that I have been a New England resident for three years now. As my longtime friends know, I am here because of school, not because I have a penchant for colonial history, skiing, or foliage. I’ve been working, studying, and being poor. I haven’t spent my weekends crisscrossing state lines, haven’t stayed a single night in a bed and breakfast.

It all seems like a bit of a shame, now. I don’t have to love New England to at least drive around a little. An old friend of The Boy’s moved to Boston a year after we did, along with his lovely girlfriend. They seem to rent a Zipcar every two days or so to take a trip out of town. We invited them over to our apartment a few weeks back and they decline; they’d already planned a trip to Vermont.

The Boy is even more skeptical of New England than I am. “What, exactly, is so great about Vermont?” he asked.

Our friend was livid. “Breweries! And vineyards! And the Ben & Jerry’s factory! And covered bridges!”

Now that I have weekends and a little bit of gas money, I’d like to see me some covered bridges.

Here is a short list of fun things I’d like to do in New England in the near future:

• Go to the beach on Cape Cod. I should probably get started on this one being that it’s already September.
• Take a hike on a pretty mountain
• Live out my lifelong, Summer Sisters inspired dream of visiting Martha’s Vineyard.
• Pick some seasonal fruit. Okay, I did this once, but it was fun!! And so many delicious apples!
• The Eric Carle Museum of Picturebook Art. This was, surprisingly, The Boy’s idea. I am just a bit ashamed I haven’t been yet… maybe swing by Northampton while we are in the area?
• Something fun in Salem. We did the Salem Witch “museum” on a rainy  vacation once but didn’t really have a chance to take in the town at all, and now we have some friends who live there who we can visit!
• Eat a Lobster Roll in Maine.
• Take a trip to Providence. After reading The Marriage Plot, I’d like to at least take a look at Brown’s campus…
• Look at some freaking foliage already.