3katz -is this just you and DH or are there kids involved? Also, what time of year will you be there? We own a VRBO in Lake Placid, and have become very familiar with the area over the last few years. Personally, I prefer the Adirondacks to the Finger Lakes area, but I'm sure you will find people who say just the opposite. There is golfing in Lake Placid at Whiteface Lodge. Some of my favorite small town ventures in the Adirondacks have been in Old Forge, Racquette Lake, Keene and Keene Valley -but I'll wait to hear whether or not you will be in that area before I get into specifics.

We live in a suburb of Rochester, and love both the Finger Lakes, and the Adirondacks. So different, each with unique qualities. There are wonderful wineries around most of the FingerLakes, wonderful little towns, and Ithaca is a great college town. We vacationed every summer while our kids were growing up, in the Adirondacks, enjoyed our times there so much, as well.

I've plugged this a zillion times but here is a zillion and 1:

Burlington VT, and the bike trail that goes out into Lake Champlain.

And stay in this cottage: https://www.bnbfinder.com/inn/one-of-a-kind-bed-breakfast/

I know you said no museums, but the Shelburne in VT is really quite incredible. More than art, they have a lot of americana and many interesting buildings, a carousel and a steamboat plus a lot more ... take a look:

https://shelburnemuseum.org/collections/

No kids - September timeframe. Not familiar with the Adirondacks in that area but based on my google map it looks like that's along the route so I'm up for that too. Open to all expert recommendations

Oh, September is GORGEOUS there! Okay, a few of my favorites in the Adirondacks:

Keene and Keene Valley is a darling town with great stores like Dartbrook, the Birch Store, Cedar Run Bakery, and more. There is also some wonderful hiking in the area (from very easy, walk in the woods type to more strenuous), and a large green meadow where kite festivals, live music events, farmers markets, etc. are held.

We took a fabulous boat tour on Raquette Lake -which is where the Adirondacks development really began. The history of the area that we gleaned from the tour was wonderful. There is also a Great Sagamore Camp tour there (early Vanderbilt summer home), though it was closed when we were there so we couldn't go.

Old Forge NY, and the drive past the Chain of Lakes there was pretty and quaint. Don't miss Old Forge Hardware.

In Lake Placid itself, some of my favorites include the town library, which is on the shore of Mirror Lake and incredibly quaint and warm. There is a 2.5 mile loop around Mirror Lake which I used to love walking nearly every day.

Okay - very helpful - I can see a tentative plan to stay in Lake Placid, Burlington and MIddlebury that would be do-able. Annie and Mtn - those look like great places to stay - have them on my tentative itinerary. I need a stop in Finger Lakes area though - that's about how far we'd probably go the day we arrive. Something I read suggested Skaneateles.

Okay, Skaneateles piping in here. I lived there for almost 20 years. The Sherwood inn is a very nice place to stay. It is steeped in history and has a very old tavern feel. Rooms are very nice. I had my wedding there.Great food—have the French onion soup. Or go to the Krebs for an elegant dinner with a good cause. (All profits go to local charities. ). Doug’s fish fry is probably not as world-famous as we think it is, but it really is outstanding fried fish sandwiches and so much more. Big bang for your buck there as well. The shops in Skaneateles are beautiful, my friend’s store, the nest, has amazing home accents and fun stuff. It is a perfect town to wander around andWindow shop. If you want to try a winery, anyelas is local and very good. It is about 4 miles down the road on the west side of the lake. If you want a very authentic, all night long, French dining experience, Joelle’s is the place to go. It is a few miles out of town and well worth the drive. But only go there if you can indulge a dinner that will last several hours. But my oh my it is good. If you were looking for a town that is bustling with activity, Skaneateles probably isn’t for you. But if you want a small town with great food, lodging, shopping and unparalleled natural beauty, then it is the perfect place.

We stayed at the Dubuque Lane Guest House when we went to Burlington. The guest house is 1.5 miles to city center from Winooski. Winooski is a bit more bohemian . The guest house owners are professor/artists and very interesting. They get excellent reviews.

One thing I was a little disappointed in was that I was expecting better with the cuisine in downtown Burlington. Not that it was bad but from what I had read I was expecting more. I can’t remember all the names but we went to several higher rated restaurants. I almost enjoyed the food in the ramble of the modestly revived Winooski restaurants better.

On the border of ny and vt is fort Montgomery http://www.historiclakes.org/explore/Montgomery.html. You can walk across the new bridge that connects the two states here too. I have a fondness of the orginal bridge for my great grandfather was an original engineer of the bridge. I love lake champlain, Christmas and part of my summers are spent in Addison, Vt.

Point au Roche Lodge is in the Plattsburgh/Chazy area. Nice lodge by the Point Au Roche state park on Lake Champlain. The breakfasts are amazing! The owner/chef worked for Alice Waters' Chez Panisse in Berkeley before moving to upstate NY.

https://pointaurochelodge.com/

Wonderful advice - thank-you!! I am making note of all of these places to consider as I work on the itinerary.

So cool you will see your last state, 3Katz! I still have AR, ND and SD. I should have hitched a ride w Annie to do the Dakotas. Still haven't decided if DH and I will do the Provence walking tour or Arkansas this June (or if we can get away at all). Not a lot of people get that we are vacillating between Avignon and Arkansas, but honestly I'm excited about both.

Basin Harbor in Vergennes, beautiful spot right on the lake, has an excellent 18 hole golf course and a really good restaurant, it’s about halfway between Burlington and Middlebury (and Shelburne Museum is literally on the way, right on VT Route 7). I’m curious about the draw in Middlebury, it’s a cute little town, but not much action. Frog Hollow Craft Center always has good stuff and there are a few others shops, but not many.

The Finger Lakes are lovely, beautiful vistas and lots of wineries (Jojo may want to fight me, the I think the vino is dreck) and I second all Jojo’s recommendations there, lots of history in the FL, including Seneca Falls (birthplace of women’s suffrage) and Auburn, lovely old town with stunning architecture right on Cayuga Lake. My daughter goes to college in Ithaca, honestly, I’ve never been impressed, Burlington is much better for the funky-college-town-on-a-lake vibe.

The drive up NY Route 3, which winds along the eastern shore of Lake Ontario and has some stunning vistas and a few good places to eat close by, Mill House Market and Rainbow Shores (dinner only) in Pulaski, Ryan’s Lookout in Henderson Harbor. Alexandria Bay is a fun, old timely honky tonk of a town, and gives you access to Boldt and Singer Castles, real castles on islands in the St. Lawrence River. Clayton, NY is also a cool little town, the Antique Boat Museum is fun, many of the boats are in the water, and they do tours, the Harbor Hotel in Clayton is large (for our area) but very nicely appointed, with a huge deck on the St. Lawrence river. Skip Watertown, it’s Anywhere USA, full of big box stores and chain restaurants. Take NY Route 11 through some beautiful country and depressed areas, it will take you practically to Plattsburgh, and you can take a ferry to Vermont, short trip (15 minutes +-), which puts you on the island of South Hero, about 35 minutes north of BTV. There is also a bridge at Rouses Point, but it’s not as scenic, and really doesn’t save you any time, just a few bucks, the bridge is free.

I’ve never stayed at Point Au Roche, but there is a beautiful state park beach there, but the best vistas of the Adirondacks are from Vermont, South Hero to Burlington, and there is also a ferry in Burlington, goes to Port Kent, NY, that one takes an hour, but the Adks in NY and the Green Mountains in Vermont are stunning from the water. The ferries are huge car ferries and safe as can be with restrooms, a snack bar (on the Burlington-Port Kent one) and a room up top by the wheelhouse for viewing and you can also roam the decks.

September is an idea time to visit our area, leaves just starting to change and not too hot.

I knew you guys would be a wealth of info! The direction is very helpful in helping me focus on some highlights. The Vergennes info is great as DH wants to go through there - some past business connection. He wants to go through Middlebury because he knows a few people who have gone to college there. We don't necessarily need to stay there but want to at least pass through and take a look around.

Mtn - I'm also planning trips to states that I've been to (business travel pretty much) and now want to go back to see more of the state. I've never even been to the Badlands of SD even though it's next door to MN - thinking about a road trip in 2021 since the park is under construction this year. I was also just looking at doing a road trip through Arkansas - the ultimate destination is Muscle Shoals recording studio and part of RTJ golf trail in Alabama. Long ago I was in Fayetteville for work and the customer took me on a scenic drive to Eureka Springs. I remember thinking I'd like to come back some day. By the time I get there I think it will probably be 30 years later. In looking at AR I just couldn't get too excited so not on the horizon for this year.

3katz, my husband went to Middlebury, bet your DH won’t recognize the campus, its substantially different from the ‘80’s, many new building and some stunning architecture using locally sourced slate, granite and marble.

My DH didn't go there - he just has friends who did. He's a geographer - he likes to go to places he has some connection to - no matter how obscure it may be.

3katz, Eureka Springs is one of the places I'm really looking forward to ... that and the Crystal Bridges museum near Bentonville.

Sigh, Middlebury was my dream school a thousand years ago. So 25 years ago when we visited Vermont, we had to go see it! Also in VT we stayed at the Stowehof in Stowe, the inn where the movie The Four Seasons was made. We enjoyed it, but it looks like it’s been massively “updated”. There’s a spot in VT called Smugglers Notch that looked so nice, but our toddler was having an uncooperative day so we called off our plans to visit.

In the FL, DS went to school in Ithaca a year, but we really didn’t get to see much of the town, we did do some wonderful walking by the waterfalls and gorges! and even if the wine is dreck, I’d love to have done a wine cruise on the lake. The whole area around Ithaca is so pretty.

My mom spent a few days in Skaneateles back in the late 40s as a traveling saleswoman for Lilt Home Permanents, so when we were passing through in the 90s we stayed over one day. It was lovely, and I’d love to go back.

OMG bpath - traveling saleswoman for Lilt Home Permanents - that sounds like a fascinating story!

I’m getting very excited about this trip - so many interesting places to see.

3katz, she learned how to drive, standard shift in those days, in the hills of western NY! She was just a young single woman from the plains of North Dakota!

So cool bpath!!

Ugghhh.....I'm hitting a bunch of roadblocks with accommodations in Vermont. New York I'm good - Vermont, not. I decided Mtn's B&B venue was too tiny for us. I looked into Basin Harbor Inn and the reviews were pretty bad. Tried Woodstock Inn but booked on the dates I wanted which is probably okay as it's pricey, rooms are small and the fees don't include things we'd take advantage of. A variety of other places I checked were booked - must be college/wedding stuff or maybe they just block rooms off for some reason.

I was looking for a resort-ish kind of place but now I'm thinking of a vacation rental. So my question is this - what is a good historical, scenic, interesting, smaller not completely dead location to stay for a couple days? We'd make some day trips but would ideally like a town area with a few nice, casual restaurants - place to have dinner, craft beer, wine, etc.

I'm from Buffalo, but you're going to miss us. You might be running into Fall Foliage season which starts in mid-Septmember.

I would consider staying in Burlington and taking day trips to places like Stowe (Von Trap family restaurant if you are a Sound if Music fan).

Ludlow is a nice town, near Mt. Okemo so it has quite a few restaurants for the ski crowd...we've had a number of different friends who had homes in that area. Years ago we stayed at the Inn at Long Last in Chester, but it is now called Fullerton Inn B&B. https://www.fullertoninn.com/

Burlington is a college town, lovely setting right on the lake but more metropolitan...which is a relative thing considering it's VT.

We have stayed at the Maplecroft B&B in Barre but mostly because it's near my cousin's and we go to visit her on occasion. I wouldn't necessarily stay in Barre as a tourist.

There are quite a few places to stay in Middlebury as it's also a college town, and since you're going there any way, that might work for you.

Hmm...fall foliage....maybe I'll have to pick a different time of year. I have a hard time planning a vacation more than six months ahead of time. I have fall foliage at home so no need to go there for that.

Thanks Annie - I may revisit staying in Middlebury - I can make that work if I move everything up a week earlier which would be fine. That is of course if I get it all booked while it's all available.

What about something like this in VT?

https://www.equinoxresort.com

Or

https://mountaintopinn.com

Take some road trips from there.

Okay - DONE - Geneva NY, Lake Placid NY and Middlebury VT. We'll fly into Rochester NY and out of Burlington VT. I moved everything up a week earlier and shortened the trip by one day and got the accommodations booked. Now I can decide what I want to do along the way but should be plenty of time to do that. Thanks all for your help!!

A friend recently stayed at the Middlebury Inn and he liked it, but mentioned that Burlington has a lot more choices including some nice hotels on the lake.

Annie - I'm staying at The Swift House Inn in MIddlebury. A few years ago I was off on a tangent to go out there at Christmas and settled on this place - even made a reservation and then decided traveling at Christmas was a dumb idea. I think it will be good for a couple days. I did see a bunch of places in Burlington but I just can't bring myself to stay in a chain hotel on a trip like this - actually I never like to do that. I did make a reservation at the MIrror Lake Inn - it looks wonderful - thanks for the recommendation. Also staying at a highly rated B&B in Geneva even though I generally don't like B&Bs. Considered Geneva on the Lake but that had some bad reviews and the B&B had wonderful reviews so giving it a try.

Friends/neighbors of ours own The Point on Lake Saranac, if you are not price sensitive and like the vibe, it is gorgeous. Not sure how many minimum nights they do i the Fall,either.

Mtn - that is a beautiful place!! Unfortunately I am price sensitive and that superb venue is WAY over my budget.

3katz, the little restaurant in front of Mirror Lake Inn (might have the same name, I can't remember) is particularly good for lunch!

Well yes it is a splurge. : )