My New England Summer Kickoff

Over the past few summers, we’ve taken some great trips for weddings. We visited Asheville, NC for my cousin’s wedding one summer, while another summer brought us to Ireland to meet up with family and to attend our friends’ wedding. Last summer it was a week in Umbria for my sister-in-law’s wedding.

We love to travel, and seeing new places an revisiting old favorites like Ireland is something we have been really excited and blessed to be able to do.

However. . . every year before our summer travel plans are made, we also spend some time wishing we could just experience and enjoy New England in all of its summer glory. It’s the best time of year to live here, and with our new baby the focus of our attention now, staycationing in New England will be the theme of most of the summer.

I’m back at work (never really left) post-baby, but I am trying to take Fridays off for the summer. Last Friday I kicked off summer Fridays a bit early!

Our first stop was Westport Rivers, because what goes better with a beautiful, blue sky New England day than local bubbly? Baby’s first winery!

Getting around with a newborn takes a few more steps and tweaking of logistics, but other than a big spit up incident, our visit to the winery was absolutely lovely. We made sure to keep our melting down baby boy away from everyone else enjoying a quiet day, making all of us less stressed.

It really was a stunning day, and I always love a glass or two of the Westport Rivers RJR Brut with vineyard views.

Once we were settled in, Myles really seemed to enjoy the day as well. He’s a big fan of fresh air and riding around in his stroller, at any rate!

All of that fresh air helped us to work up an appetite, so our next stop was The Bayside, just down the street from Westport Rivers. The Bayside is always a favorite. It has an extensive menu, great cocktails, wine, and local beers, and is located in a beautiful spot across from expansive blue sea.

All I wanted was a buttered lobster roll and a glass of Westport Rivers rosé. This is the most perfect meal ever.

The Bayside has a great patio, but since it was still a bit chilly, we opted to stay inside in the bright and lovely restaurant. It has a great old time feel with friendly staff and a good noise level, key to taking a baby out for lunch. Luckily ours slept the whole time!

While I am eager to be out and about with him, I am also super conscious of the fact that not everyone wants to be near a crying baby!

Once we were done with lunch, and we saw that we had time to stop at Travessia Urban Winery in New Bedford, we were once again on our way. If you are making a trip to the region, I would recommend making time to visit both Westport Rivers and Travessia. Add Cork Wine and Tapas Bar to your itinerary if you have time in New Bedford for lunch or dinner.

We were excited to try some of Travessia’s newer wines,made with grapes from Portugal. We always love the wine at Travessia and have been club members  since the beginning days of this blog when we tasted the wines at the Coastal Wine Trail Kickoff. I can’t believe that was nine years ago!

Myles was a huge fan of the tasting room, where he got a perfect view of the all of the wine. I know some people will likely give us the side eye for bringing him to wineries and breweries as a child, but for us, bringing him up with an appreciation of great, well-made and responsibly sourced food and beverage as part of life is important and enjoyable for us, as we hope it will be for him. People who love to eat and drink and share those experiences with others are the best people!

Tuckered out from wine tasting, we piled into the car and headed through beautiful back roads to Hull, our last stop of the night, to meet family and friend’s at Hull’s Kitchen, a fantastic little spot across from the beach. Talk about a beautiful day!

Hull’s Kitchen is a bustling little oceanfront restaurant with really excellent tacos, amazing views, and on this night, live music. It was noisy and fun and perfect for Myles and his cousin C, who is a bit older and loved the music and beachy sunset. Hull always makes us feel like we are on vacation, and our evening at Hull’s Kitchen was truly the perfect way to end our summer Friday.

Where should our New England travels bring us next?