Following the story North: A New England Road Trip
If there's one thing our family loves almost as much as a good road trip, it's planning one. Long before the camper is packed, there are maps spread across the kitchen table, books stacked in every corner of the house, and conversations peppered with imagination: "What if we went...?"
After spending six unforgettable weeks exploring the American West last summer, we've spent the past year looking back through pictures and eagerly dreaming of where to go next.
This year, we're trading towering mountains and wide-open western skies for colonial villages, rocky coastlines, charming seaside towns, and some of the oldest history in America. The camper is headed north and eventually all the way to Prince Edward Island! Since America is celebrating its 250th birthday this year, it felt like the perfect excuse to visit the places where so much of our nation's story began.
Books Are the Best Travel Guides
One thing about our family: we rarely visit a place without reading about it first. History has always been more fun when it comes wrapped in a good story.
For weeks we've been building what might be our favorite road trip playlist yet—not just music, but audiobooks, stories, and history that match every stop along the way. There's something magical about listening to a story in the car and then climbing out a few hours later to see that very place with your own eyes.
Our older girls can hardly wait to reach Prince Edward Island because, of course, that's where Anne of Green Gables calls home. If you've ever fallen in love with Anne, you probably understand why they're counting down the days.
As we get closer to Boston, Johnny Tremain will have us imagining lanterns in church steeples, Paul Revere's midnight ride, and the days leading up to the American Revolution. Robert McCloskey's classic New England stories are coming with us too, and somewhere along the way we'll probably find ourselves quoting favorite passages from. In Vermont, we're even planning to visit the Trapp Family Lodge, where the famous von Trapp family settled after escaping Austria.
Photo from 2025 Westward Ho Trip
A Trip That Helped Inspire Piper & Leaf
This trip is extra special because New England has already played an important role in our family's story. Years before Piper & Leaf was even an idea, Caleb and Brigette traveled through New England on their honeymoon, making their way as far north as Acadia National Park. Along the way, they wandered into little tea shops unlike anything they had ever seen in the South. They lingered over conversations, sampled new blends, and made tea part of everyday life.
That visit became one of the many little seeds that eventually grew into Piper & Leaf. Now we get to return with our children and show them the places that helped shape our own story. We have a feeling they'll be just as captivated as we were.
Photo from 2025 Westward Ho Trip
Come Along for the Adventure
You can't travel through Boston without thinking about tea. We'll definitely be visiting the sites connected to the Boston Tea Party, sipping tea while we walk those historic streets, and smiling at the thought that one little leaf has been part of America's story for centuries.
Of course, we're also looking forward to all the people we'll see along the way. We'll stop in Ohio to visit extended family, spend time with cousins in New York, reconnect with friends in Boston and Maine, and meet up with grandparents for part of the trip.
Road trips have a way of becoming less about checking destinations off a map and more about collecting stories you'll tell for years afterward. We have a feeling this adventure will be full of those moments.
Over the next several weeks we'll be sharing plenty of photos, favorite stops, unexpected discoveries, tea moments, and maybe even a few camper mishaps if we're feeling honest. We'd love for you to come along for the ride! If you've been to New England, let us know your favorite hidden gems. And if it's still on your bucket list, we hope our adventure inspires one of your own.
Here's to good books, good tea, good company, and the open road!
