Fall is a wonderful time to visit the historical city of Boston and, for added fun, include a stop in Salem, which celebrates Halloween like no other town in the country.  Here is your blueprint.

First stop, Plymouth, MA and a not-to-be-missed visit to Plimoth Plantation.   The plantation is a recreation of the original English village, settled by pilgrims in 1620, along with a Wampanoag homestead not far away.  You enter the English Village in the year 1627, the seventh year after the pilgrims’ arrival.  Actors in this living museum so thoroughly stay in character that they bring you into their world.  They collect vegetables from the garden, clean, cook, meet, and even gossip, giving each visitor an in-depth understanding of what life is like in 1627 for an English settler.   Visitors, especially young visitors, are encouraged to explore the village and ask questions.  A short distance from the English Village, the Wampanoag homestead is populated by native peoples from around the Northeast who speak about lifestyles, make crafts, cook, grow crops, sing songs and tell stories about the unique challenges native peoples faced and the interesting lives they lived at the time the pilgrims came to their land.  After touring the village and homestead, little ones can enjoy some play time within the Plimoth Plantation's Children’s Center located in the visitor center.  There they can put into play what they have just learned about the pilgrims, dress as they dressed, and enjoy some themed games. 

Three miles North of Plimoth Plantation, is downtown Plymouth, where you’ll find the Mayflower II, a full-scale replica of the ship on which the pilgrims journeyed to America in 1957.  Actors frequent the Mayflower from the plantation and speak of their journey to the New World.  Not far from the Mayflower II, young kids will love the pirate cruise run by Lobster Tales.  This one hour trip into the harbor includes a fight with a pirate and retrieval of booty for all to share along with a lobster trap retrieval to explore the creature caught within.  For a little spook, take the 2-hour Twilight Lantern Ghost Tour, a walking tour where you not only try to catch spirits on film, but also tour the town and learn the history.  For the faint of heart and the little ones, they also offer a History Tour and Scavenger Hunt. 

A stay at the Radisson Hotel Plymouth Harbor on 180 Water Street provides comfortable lodgings within short walking distance to all of the downtown attractions, shops, and restaurants.  Stop by the Visitor Center located on the corner of Water Street and Memorial Drive to pick up a walking tour pamphlet so you can be sure to visit all the important historical sites throughout the town of Plymouth.

Next stop is Boston proper.  Any large city can be overwhelming when you first visit, but Boston has two great ways to easily and quickly get acquainted with the streets and sites: the Boston Duck Tour and the Old Town Trolley Tour.  The Boston Duck tour leaves from several easy to find sites throughout the city in a WWII style amphibious landing vehicle repainted in vibrant, fun colors.  The Duck's guided tour takes you past historical sites such as Bunker Hill, the State House and Boston Commons to name a few and many entertaining venues like the Science Museum and the Cheers Bar.  The Old Town Trolley provides a longer guided tour of the city, which you can jump on and off of as you reach destinations you would like to tour more thoroughly.  It provides the easiest way to make sure you find everything you are interested in seeing without getting exhausted from all of the walking.  No trip to Boston would be complete without a walk through the Boston Commons. 

Boston is home to two amazing children’s museums, the Science Museum and the Boston Children’s Museum, each could easily keep the whole family entertained for an entire day.  The Science Museum is just as informative and engaging to toddlers as to adults and every age in between, with exhibits on electricity, MC Escher, and playground physics, among many others.  Not to mention the planetarium, IMAX, 3D Digital Cinema and so much more!  The Children’s Museum is arguably the best children’s museum in the country, perfect for toddlers through elementary age kids.  The bubble exhibit entertains all, a sculpture that kids can climb goes from the first to third floor, a gated room provides hours of toddler fun, and huge variety of exhibits for every age group are found on all three floors.  There is history, art, sports, entertainment, fabulous restaurants and so much going on in Boston it is impossible to mention it all.  It would be easy to spend a week right in Boston and never run out of fun things to do.

On to Salem.  The best way to travel from Boston to Salem is aboard the Salem Ferry.  This high-speed catamaran gives a great tour of both the Boston and Salem Harbors along with the lighthouses and coast-line between the two.  Salem is well known for the witch trials of 1692 and piracy.  A day in Salem offers lots of choices through museums and shows to learn more about both from the Salem Witch Museum to the fun tour through the New England Pirate Museum. 

A must-see is the Peabody Essex Museum, an architecturally beautiful museum that specializes in maritime art along with several changing, temporary exhibits including a fun-tastic holograms and optical illusions exhibit displaying through May 2011 (www.PEM.org).  Staying at the Salem Waterfront Hotel & Suites provides not only great rooms and an indoor pool, but lets you leave the car behind as it is located right in the middle of all the sites and entertainment.   Just a short walk from the Salem Waterfront, you can pick up the Salem Trolley.  Much like the Old Town Trolley in Boston, the Salem Trolley provides a guided tour of Salem’s historical sites and allows you to jump on and off at spots of interest.  Beyond the tourist attractions, Salem is an adorable port town with plenty of shopping, restaurants and entertainment.  The kids will love a visit to Ye Olde Pepper Companie for candies and goodies, located on Derby Street across the street from the House of Seven Gables.  The House of Seven Gables is a guided house tour with history on the family and how they helped to shape the town in which they lived including being the inspiration for writer Nathaniel Hawthorne.  The gardens provide a picturesque photo opportunity with the flora and harbor beyond.  There is no better time than October to plan a visit to Salem as the entire month is devoted to the town's favorite holiday: Halloween.  Haunted Happenings family fun events happen throughout the town all month long.

It’s only a short trip to from Salem to the last stop, Gloucester, and an unbelievable whale watching experience.  With Captain Bill’s Whale Watch and Deep Sea Fishing Whale Watch Tours you get four hours of a professional naturalist that will explain all about the different species of whale in the area, along with their markings and individual habits as you seek out pods.  Captain Bill’s is a family owned and operated Whale Watch that provides smaller boats that allow you to get awesome shots of the whales you find without needing a zoom lens to capture them.  In addition to the whales you are able to see the breathtaking beauty of Gloucester Harbor.  Captain Bill’s tours run through October.

No matter what you are looking for in a vacation, you’ll be certain to find it throughout the Greater Boston Area!

The following provided complimentary passes or reduced rates, however no part of the above was written or suggested by the employees or owners of Plimoth Plantation and Mayflower II, Lobster Tales, Dead of Night Ghost Tours, Radisson Hotel Plymouth Harbor, Boston Duck, Old Town Trolley, The Science Museum of Boston, Boston Children’s Museum, Salem Ferry, Salem Trolley, Salem Witch Museum, New England Pirate Museum, Salem Waterfront Hotel & Suites, House of Seven Gables, Peabody Essex Museum, Captain Bill’s Whale Watch & Deep Sea Fishing.