Just looking for some pointers on where to investigate further. We live in St. Louis and we have driven the West quite a bit (both my family and my wife's family is in California). This Summer we are looking to do something a bit different.

We (wife, teenage daughter, and I) are looking at road-tripping around New England for ~2.5 weeks this July. The exact time frame would probably be something like July 5/6 through July 22/23, although that window could 'slide' a bit. I have very little experience with New England other than a short trip to Boston with a side trip to Cape Ann and a separate road trip there we spent a few days in Vermont.

The overall plan is that I would be driving in from our home in St. Louis and pick them up at an airport. We would then roadtrip through New England and then back to St. Louis. This framework is for logistical reasons. I can get out of town about a week before them and am looking to do a leisurely weeklong trip from St. Louis up to New England to pick them up (other than Cooperstown, I am planning on leaving this part really open). The ~2.5 weeks would not include the time to drive to/from St. Louis, it would be entirely in New England.

My current vague and fuzzy notion is to pick up my wife and daughter at the airport in Portland, Maine and spend a few days along the coast, probably near Acadia NP. Then head back West to the White Mountains and thence to Vermont. From there, South to the Berkshires and from there to Newport and/or Mystic. (?)

I was thinking about trying to get to Cape Cod as well, but I am thinking that at that point we might be trying to do too much and feeling a little too rushed to really just enjoy the trip. Also, we liked Boston when we went, but are not interested in heading there on this trip.

So, I guess I would like to ask for pointers. I think we have a reasonable amount of time for a not-too-rushed trip. This seems like the logical routing to me, eyeballing maps, but am I missing something obvious? Also, flying into Portland is not set in stone. The flight could easily go into Hartford or Providence or Manchester or even Boston (though I would prefer to avoid it since my vague recollection is that the location of Logan is not really convenient for what we want to do).

Thank you all.