Summer Travel Plans on Tap: Hidden PA, Cruising and Tanglewood

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tanglewood
Enjoying the lawn at Tanglewood in Lenox.

I’ve got some exciting travel plans unfolding as we head officially into summer, and that’s what makes a life worth living.  First off, I am heading off with my daughter and my two grandchildren to an undisclosed location in central Pennysylvania.

This place is so great that many who live there have requested that I refrain from blogging about it or sharing its location in my usual exuberant manner. So I’ll just describe it as a giant house that sleeps about 20, a mountain lake served by a 1920s launch, and a lot of family time.  I’ll have my entire family with me for the next week, and without reliable cellphone service and internet, I’ll pretty much be off the grid.

Then I’ll return home on July 5 and the next day we will make our first trip to Tanglewood the following Sunday. Nothing can beat sitting out on the lawn, with a magnificent Yogi the Bear picnic stretched out in front of us on a blanket, a few candles flickering and the sounds of the BSO gently washing over us. Heaven.

Then on July 18, we’re off on a nautical adventure. We are joining Blount Small Ship Adventures  for a week-long cruise up the coast of New England on an 88-passenger small ship.  We start in Warren RI, then sail to Cuttyhunk, then Nantucket, then Martha’s Vineyard, Newport and Block Island.

Being 30-year residents of New England, we’ve both been to these destinations many times, but it will be a new kick to visit them on board Blount’s unique low profile ships, that can head very close to shore due to their low drafts.

It will almost be like having our own giant yacht–and I’m sure we will get to know our fellow cruisers well as we spend the week with them and check out many shore excursions too.

On August 8, I’ll set off with Jack Dunphy on another of our man-cation journeys, this time we’ll going to New Hampshire’s far north, Coos County. There we will stay in a wilderness lodge, go canoeing in the first and second Connecticut lakes, and learn how to fly fish. Then we will drive to Newport Vermont and spend some time meeting local people in this town right on the Canadian border.

It’s a great summer and it even includes a family wedding on August 16, with dozens of Cunninghams coming in from Pittsburgh and other points to celebrate Emily Gilman and David Tynan’s nuptials.  It is going to be a great summer indeed!