The CTbites and 109 Cheese & Wine Road Trip Giveaway
From the coast of Maine, to the island of Nantucket, to the beaches of Long Island ... who doesn’t love a great summer road trip? As we downshift into the slower and warmer final weeks of summer, CTbites wants to know, what are some of your favorite road trip destinations?
Comment on this post sharing one or more of your favorite summer road trip destinations for a chance to win a picnic basket from 109 Cheese and Wine filled with cheese, wine and charcuterie from the Ridgefield cheese and wine shop. This basket is a $225 value.
The giveaway ends on July 31. We will randomly select a winner and notify you via email. Please be sure to comment with your email address so we may contact you. The basket, which will be similar to the one pictured above, will need to be picked up at 109 Cheese & Wine on a mutually agreed-upon date in August 2012.
About 109 Cheese & Wine
109 Cheese & Wine is owned by Monica and Todd Brown, who are dedicated to bringing a curated selection of the best cheese, charcuterie and wine from around the corner to around the world to Fairfield County. They are located at The Marketplace at Copps Hill at 109 Danbury Road in Ridgefield, CT next door to Ross Bread, Ridgefield Organics and the Cake Box. For more information, visit 109cheeseandwine.com/picnic.
Cheese, Giveaway, Ridgefield, Road Trip
Reader Comments (53)
For a short trip, we like to go to Newport, RI to view the mansions and visit the beaches.
One of our family traditions has been summer road trips to Ocean City, MD. There is something for everyone! My husband and I started going there in our 20's. It's just a 4 lane penisula, blessed with the ocean and crazy waves on one side, and the ohter side is the calming bay.
There is a host of restaurants to accomodate all tastes, and the prices are very reasonable.
The kids have nejoyed boogie boarding, surfing, mini-golf, amusement parks on the Boardwalk, rides in speed boats, nature cruises to Assateague Island, crabbing, jet skiing, floating in the bay on a raft and shopping the outlets for back to school clothes.
O.C./M.D. will always hold a special place in our hearts for the many cherished memories created there.
Our annual July trip to Southern Maine: Ogunquit and Portland.
My favorite summer road trip has to be the one to Camden, Maine. We like to go via Portsmouth, stopping to enjoy a cup of coffee in its Market Square and sometimes, we go further all the way to Bar Harbor.
Finger lakes wine country.
Kent Falls is a favorite road trip destination as well as Bear Mountain State Park in New York. Millbrook, NY is also a great spot with lots of amazing farms and countryside.
During our 33 years living in CT, my husband & I have taken almost every road trip in New England mentioned by others. However, since the grandchildren have arrived, every summer our road (and ferry) trip to Madacat on Natucket has been an annual tradition. The Jeep is loaded to the roof with everything we'll need for a week at the beach. Since Madacat is located on the western side of the island, many an evening is spent watching the sun set on the beach with family, friends, good food & drink.
We have a few favorite road trips. We love taking a trip to Camden, Maine. The town is a picturesque New England village with great charm. We always stay at the Hartstone Inn which is an easy walk to town and has a fantastic restaurant. They serve a 5 course tasting menu in the restaurant that changes every day and the fantastic breakfast. The rooms are very unique luxurious. From there we explore the local light houses, art galleries and museums and watch the boats come in to town.
We also like to spend a weekend exploring Manhattan in the summer. We stay at a hotel with a rooftop pool and enjoy cocktails by the pool and then explore the MET for the afternoon. Drinks in the evening and dinner at a great restaurant top off the evening. The city is great at night during the summer!
Saratoga to the races in August...great place to set up the picinic and take in the races...
PCH along the coast....MONEY
Our favorite family road trip is to Saratoga,NY. Spending time at SPAC, the beautiful Saratoga Racetrack or at Moreau State Park....it is simply a lovely place to visit and one we look forward to each year.
We did a day trip earlier this month that will surely become an annual tradition. A drive up to Guilford to enjoy wine tasting at Chamard, followed by an amazing outdoor meal at The Spot...lobsters, clams, corn on the cob- all roasted over a wood-burning BBQ pit. Lastly, ice cream at Walnut Beach Creamery in Milford on the way home makes for a perfect summer day!!
North Fork of LI! Beautiful wineries, great scenery, wonderful local food scene. A stop in Greenport for a little shopping - a great way to spend a weekend, a day or even a week!
Newport is pretty amazing.
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Lake George NY, and the surrounding region! The Ausable Chasm is amazing!
My favorite road trip lately has been the once yearly night or two away from our beautiful babies (now toddlers) up to the Berkshires. We adore them but it's so nice to have some couple time, set our own schedule, and most of all, sleep in! We head up route 7 and love winding through Litchfield County. We picnic on the lawn at Tanglewood, stay in a restful bed & breakfast, eat at the fabulous Nudel, whose menu changes every day based on the chef's local market finds, and enjoy the summer atmosphere in Lenox. The drive back always includes lunch at baba louie's in Great Barrington, followed by a browse through Kent, CT's main street. We're going this week - can't wait!
Taughannock Falls, just north of Ithaca, NY on Cayuga Lake is our favorite summer picnic spot. Hiking up the gorge to the falls is the perfect prequel to a late afternoon meal. We stop at the Ithaca Farmer's Market for bread, cheese & fruit, visit Maxi's Supper Club for a few dozen oysters & pick up a dry Riesling at one of the local vineyards. With the lake as a backdrop to our picnic, the day is complete.
Last time I was back home in California, we packed up a picnic lunch and took the old man's roadster out to Point Reyes (via Napa county) and had a lovely time at Drake Bay. The scenery is fantastic and the roads are drivers roads.
A trip to any of the local farm markets in lower Fairfield county for some fresh fruit, cheese and bread. Then off to the woods for a trail walk or a hike is probably one of my favorite, close to home and affordable road trips to take. Connecticut has some beautiful trails.
I'd have to say my FAVORITE road trip destination was Westport! I grew up in New York and the most anticipated day of the summer was making the drive to Westport to my Grandma's house, and going to Compo Beach. Always complete with fish and chips from Westfair Fish and Chips, of course.
My favorite local road trip for a long summer weekend is Amagansett on Long Island. We take the Bridgeport ferry to Port Jeff and stay at the Ocean Dunes right on the water and off the main drag in town. We love the Meeting House for dinner and grab a bottle of wine from the wine shop across the street to take back to the deck. Listening to the waves crash while sipping a delicious Cabernet can't be beat! In the morning we hit up Marvelous Mary's for iced latte's and egg sandwiches. Now I want to go back!!
Love the quick trip to Kent, CT for a few nights of camping, Appalachian trail hiking and ending it with a fantastic meal at DOC's Trattoria!
Every road trip has brought a new adventure and sense of freedom. Some of my favorites include:
1)driving to Narragansett, RI, taking the ferry to Block Island and exploring the island via bicycle, enjoying the calmness of sitting at the beach, kayaking and enjoying a dark and stormy with homemade ginger beer.
2)driving to Maine and exploring the lighthouses and Acadia National Park
3) driving to my birthplace, Newport, RI and driving along the water enjoying the cliff walks, beaches and summer culture.
No matter your destination, there is beauty all around us. Just have to hop in the car and start exploring.
Surfside Beach, SC! Nice drive with great stops down the coast. Closer to home trips: Newport, RI, and Niantic, CT!
FAVORITE SUMMER ROADTRIP
Any road trip can be fun, any one at all. There is no set formula or perfect recipe for a good road trip, instead it can be a simple mixture of a few solid ingredients. There are so many different things that can make a long drive in the car and adventure. Its all about getting on the road, exercising your machine on the pavement, the smells of the car and the roadside eateries, the changes in weather and temperature as the sun falls, exploring new sights, lots of conversation, “navi-guessing” the route, singing songs or playing the right playlist, seeing the roadside sights, stopping at vistas for silly pictures, eating regional cuisine along the way, and sometimes it all leads you to some glorious destination, sometimes, well, not so much. But in any drive I can guarantee that you would have seen some cool things and learned a few things along the way too. Occasionally you strike on the whole litany of factors and that can change the road trip from ordinary to extraordinary. I had such a drive recently in “FRAU” the 1971 Mercedes Benz 280se cabriolet. We dropped the top and threw the basket in the back seat. We took off for a drive right in our own back yard, an excursion around the Fairfield county reservoirs. The day was hot, better than 95 degrees. The smells of old warn leather and varnished wood hot to the touch from the sun. We packed a simple picnic of some of our favorite bites; charcuterie, a few different harder cheeses, some seasonal fresh cherries, and a softer one that melted into a practical fondue to dip your crust of baguette in, simple elegant and delicious. On this day we had a few chilled bottles of a superb 2011 provincial rose, light light pink color, nuanced subtle red fruits, zippy acidity dancing on the pallet, simply put, it was the perfect summer wine for a perfect summer day. Anyway, it was one of those totally free spirited trips that day, taking random turns along the route because the liked the look of a hill or the angle of a turn. We saw the reservoirs we had never seen, we saw deer, turkeys, herons, a snowy egret, hawks, and a spectacular and massive Harry Potter type barn owl. We chatted, shared old stories of all kinds and sang at the top of our lungs a few times. Finally, we caught a gimps of a little clearing through the woods at an undisclosed location of an undisclosed road in an undisclosed town. We drove the old regal gal down an overgrown dirt road to a perfect little hidden back pasture with a stream on one of its boarders. We spread the blanket in front of the iconic Mercedes grill and dug into our lunch. We clinked glasses and cheered to the glory days of summer and each other. And though we did not pack bathing suits, we did manage to cool off in the secluded stream just the same…nuff said.
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