2 Bears and Our Travels

The Last Blog Post

2011-09-19T06:04:00.000-07:00

Good morning everybody, today Joe and I would like to say thanks to everyone who followed and viewed our travels blog. As of right now, this is the last post for this blog, but who knows maybe someday when Joe and I get enough money we can reopen the blog as well as our own website for our travels. We want to say thanks again for everything and for taking the time to follow and view our blog.

Have safe travels, have fun, be safe, and as always respect one another and love one another.

Blessings from Joe and Shawn your two friendly traveling bears

Portsmouth, NH Revisited

2011-08-22T07:07:00.000-07:00

Good morning everybody, and welcome to mine and Joe's newest blog post. In this post, we will be taking you back to Portsmouth, NH. This awesome little city has so much to offer its community and tourists, from great sea food restaurants, shopping, beaches in the area, and festivals happening all the time. The parking is simple, easy to find, and plenty of it available. So, come on everyone, lets get to going.

When you first get to Portsmouth, find your parking spot, make sure to get there early in the morning around 9am, this allows you to find a great location to park. You can either park on one of the roads or park in one of the public parking lots. Each form of parking, there are meters located every few feet, now these are not the normal, put a quarter in the meter every couple of hours, these meters will take you credit card or debit card, and you can select how long you wish to park on the road. The public parking lots, do the same, except for these parking machines, you take you ticket, and can park all day, then pay for your time when you leave. Even though most parking lots are $1 per hour, the one right across the street from the Residence Inn charges only $0.75 cents per hour. This past weekend we parked here, and for the whole day from, 10am - 5pm we only paid $3.75. If you are staying the weekend or for a few days, Joe and I recommend the Residence Inn. This newly renovated hotel is a great place to stay and located right in the Downtown area. It offers spectacular views of Portsmouth and water ways, and is within walking distance to all of the shops and restaurants that Portsmouth has to offer.

From this point, you are free to walk any where you wish to view the town and do some shopping. Joe and I recommend, for those who love music, to stop into the Bull Moose Music store located on Congress Street. This awesome little music store, has so much to offer to those you love cd's and music. You can find anything from metal and goth to classical and new age. From the mainstream groups to the underground. The People here are very knowledgeable of music, and are always willing to help you in your search.
Now once in the downtown area, you have a wide range of shops that you can visit, there literally is a store for everyone. From the little Banzai store called Little Timbers, to Bull Moose Music and a fabulous little book store and a couple of Celtic stores, you wont be disappointed at all. The roads are mainly one ways, to drive on, but once you park your car, you simply just start walking. Plenty of things to see and do, Portsmouth is a great little historic town, they even offer trolley tours during the day for visitors. As well, in this town, each street just about has absolutely no vacant store fronts, so even with such a bad economy right now, this small city is doing just fine. The people are friendly and every where you turn someone is always willing to help. You can even hear live music being played from the local restaurants to on the side walks by people as well.

During the summer, when you come to visit Portsmouth, there are a ton of festivities just about every weekend there is something going on in the center of town. Towards the end of June, Portsmouth, puts on the largest street fair Joe and I have ever seen. ALL downtown roads are just closed off, and the street fair is in the entire center square and one a few of the other roads. With over a couple hundred vendors, each store in the downtown area also has their side walk sales. In the beginning of July, Portsmouth has another street fair, not as big, but one whole road which follows the water is closed off for this event. This past weekend when Joe and I went, Portsmouth was hosting the 2nd annual Stiletto 500. This is a small 500 foot race, that men and women can participate in. The object is you must be wearing stilettos to enter, from the start line, you run to the finish line. First person in stilettos through the finish line wins. There are 5 races, and one man and one woman are chosen as the festival winners. There is also a best costume award as well. All proceeds for this small event, go to help the Big Brothers and Big Sisters foundation, and a real fun time for people to be involved with.

Now, while this event was happening, Portsmouth, was also having a small art festival in the towns park, which is right on the ocean. Now even though Joe and I did not get a chance to visit that, Portsmouth has always been a huge supporter for all of its local artists, selling their items in the stores, festivals, etc. No matter which store you walk into, you will most likely see a lot of things that are made from local artists. From Poetry to Clothing, Portsmouth loves its local artists.
Now if its the Sea you are wanting to visit, along Route 1a, you can take a nice drive north or south along the coastline, park at any of the beaches or parking lots on the side of the road and just take in the beautiful ocean and all of its million dollar homes. Take a few pictures, sit on the rocks, or just driving, the New Hampshire Coastline, although rocky, is still a very beautiful sight to see while here in Portsmouth. Well folks, we have come to the end of this journey in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Joe and I hope you enjoyed the visit, as much as we did and hope you will go visit. Our score for this small ocean side city is a 10+, with so much to offer the people and visitors, you will not be disappointed. Until next time all, have a great trip no matter where you go, and as always be safe, be happy, love one another, and most importantly, have a blast.

Blessings and Peace to all
Shawn and Joe

Upcoming Places

2011-08-08T10:34:00.000-07:00

Good afternoon everybody, Joe and I come with new news for you all. We have some other up and coming new places we are going to visit this year for our blog. August we will be in Portsmouth, NH again, then we are to be heading to New Hope, PA, then upstate NY, Saratoga Springs and Sharon Springs, then we will be heading to the Poconos hopefully. Next year on our anniversary trip to Florida we will be heading to NC again. So please keep an eye on our blogs for all these new places and many more as Joe and I continue our travels for LGBT friendly less touristy places in America.

Blessings to all
Shawn and Joe

Welcome to Savannah, GA

2011-07-18T09:00:00.000-07:00

Good morning all and welcome to another edition of 2 Bears and Our Travels. My name is Shawn, and my husband Joe and I are going to take you all today to where the famous book, "The Garden of Good and Evil" was written. Good Old Savannah, GA. So come on all, and lets go do our exploring.

If you are looking to stay in Savannah or near Savannah, right off of Interstate I-95 there is a huge amount of places one has to choose from. Joe and I chose to stay at, the Days Inn and Suites right off of I-95 on our way to Florida. The rooms were affordable and ok, be prepared though, some of the hotels rooms have the bathtub right next to the bed. A very interesting but strange place to have a heart shaped bathtub. From here you can take the highway right over to Savannah, and like the hotel, be watchful when entering Savannah, as the highway does go through some rough areas of town, and be very watchful on street signs. If you have never been to Savannah before, make sure to get a road map, as finding the shopping and eating and touring can be a little difficult if you do not know your way around.

Once you do find a place to park and take the trolley around or walk around, you will find Savannah to be a real beautiful coastal town with a very diverse setting to all people. With many things to do, like visit the old cemetery, shop, eat, or visit the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, this town a a great place for a day trip or for a vacation. Savannah is also the place where Paula Deen has her restaurant, but it is recommended by the locals to make a reservation early in the morning in order to get a sea for dinner, or you can get to the restaurant well before the doors open to ensure you get a seat for lunch, as the line into the restaurant get real long real fast.

Cathedral of St. John the Baptist

When you get to this beautiful Cathedral, no hats are allowed to be worn, do to the strong Roman Catholic Belief system. This Cathedral is one of the most beautiful in the country and Joe and I definitely recommend going to visit, take photos of the inside, pray, or just walk around in.

Now if its the cemetery you wish to visit, Savannah has a real old cemetery right down the road from the Cathedral that people can walk through, take photos of the gravestones, look at the scenery, and all else. Colonial Park Cemetery offers some of the oldest and coolest sorts of grave stones from generals to other people. If you like to shoot photos of graveyards or do stone etchings, this is a great place to go to.

Now, after visiting the cemetery and cathedral, shopping is a must. The downtown area has a lot of little shops for the average tourist and for the locals. You can either walk the entire downtown area or stay on the trolley and be dropped off in certain areas. Downtown even offers to those who need a break, a real nice central park to sit and take more photos of, who knows you may even see some of the horse riding police officers come on through on their horses.

Park in Downtown

Horse Drawn Buggies for touring the city

Local Police on Horses

Some Shops

Tourism Map of Savannah, Ga

Paula Deen's "Lady and Sons" Restaurant

More Downtown Shopping

Well that is it for today folks, if you are visiting Savannah, Ga Joe and I are sure you will have a lot of fun in this small city full of walking, shopping, eating, and sight seeing. Our score for this trip is a
7.5-8, do to hotel room, and driving through Savannah. But what this trip lacked in driving and at our hotel, it more than makes up with sights to see and places to visit. Until next time, enjoy your stay in this beautiful city and as always keep following Joe and I and all of our travels. Take care, and remember be polite, kind, respect one another, love one another, and be safe and happy.

Shawn and Joe

Fort Lauderdale Part 2

2011-07-15T09:32:00.000-07:00

Good morning to all and welcome to the long awaited Fort Lauderdale Part 2 edition of Mine and Joe's Blog, 2 Bears and Our Travels. Today we will be taking you on our trip to the second half of our most recent trip back to Fort Lauderdale. So come aboard all and lets fly.

Now, when arriving at Fort Lauderdale International Airport, catch a cab on over to which ever Hotel you are staying at. Joe and I always choose Coconut Cove Guesthouse, the only Gay Male Clothing Optional Guesthouse to the beach. http://coconutcoveguesthouse.com/ After settling in and getting a quick tour of the hotel, head on out to the main strip along the beach, also known as A1A. With plenty of restaurants and little souvenir shops, one will not be disappointed. One stop Joe and I recommend is a restaurant called H2O. This place is awesome for any time of day, the staff are all great, the food excellent, and prices just as great. With a choice to eat inside or outside, they always have great music playing from their radio and offer romantic eating at night with candle lit tables.

H2O Cafe outside eating

Now if some small shopping is what you are in need for, walk a little farther south on the main drag and go to the outdoor mall called Beach Place. This great little stop has more places to eat, one place Joe and I recommend is Lulu's. Once again awesome food, service, and prices. Beach Place also offers some shopping and even bicycle taxi's to bring you places.

Beach Place outside Mall

Now during your stay, try out the Water Taxi. These taxi's bring you to 13 different stops, all of which offer more shopping and eating as well as sight seeing. During the day they run about every half our, and then at 6 pm they run once an hour. They offer maps of the area as well as tour guides to talk about all of the million dollar homes and yachts. For $20 a person for the water taxi, feel free to get on and off the taxi's all day long and get discounts in shops and restaurants by showing your water taxi ticket.

One of the places Joe and I recommend for fun is the Imax Science Museum and Theatre which is stop number 11 on the water taxi. This science museum is a great stop for people of all ages. The have on show this time around things from NASA, Animals, Dinosaur fossils, and a lot of other things for children to do. With a cost of $11 per adult, the price is definitely a great deal and very affordable.

Going Shopping on Las Olas Blvd, for this trip, Joe and I advise you to take a amount of money or credit cards with you, as it is not rare to see a pair of summer shorts in any store here for a pricey $150 a pair. One of the richest areas of Fort Lauderdale to shop, the streets are mainly lined with Lamborghini's, Bentley's, Ferrari's, and Rolls Royce's. If you love window shopping this is a great place to take in the cars, and sights from street view. A great walk though and a fun afternoon to look at really nice pieces of art, and expensive antique stores, and expensive clothing stores and restaurants, this little area of town will truly open your eyes to how the rich live.

Las Olas Blvd

Well that's it folks for this edition of 2 Bears and Our Travels. Where ever it is you travel to, Fort Lauderdale, Florida is truly one of the best places to visit. From the awesome shopping, eating, walking, and hotels to the sandy beaches. This City seems to have something for everybody young and old. So take the trip on down to Fort Lauderdale and enjoy.

For this trip, and both parts of this Fort Lauderdale post, Joe and I combine the score for both trips here to a 10+.

Well that's it for now all, so until the next time, be safe, be happy, love one another, and be polite and respectful towards each other.

Blessings to All

Shawn and Joe

Good morning from Old St. Augustine, Florida

2011-06-28T10:10:00.000-07:00

Good morning everybody and welcome to Mine and Joes newest post in our Blog about 2 Bear and Our Travels. Today we are going to be taking you all to Old St. Augustine, Florida. A small city with so much fun inside of it. From shopping and eating to many other things. Come along as we head to St. Augustin now.

In a town full of awesomeness, Old St. Augustine Village is the place to visit. You can ride a bike, take a taxi, take a visitors train, or you can simply walk or drive yourself through town. This town is a fantastic place to come visit, and located centrally between Daytona Beach and Jacksonville, there is a lot of fun awaiting your arrival here. St. Augustine has plenty of great places to stay, and just ask any front desk of any hotel here about taking a tour through the village and places to go. You can even go on a night time ghost hunt through the small city, which is complete and total fun for anybody. Joe and I taking the ghost train ride at night, we had a blast when we did. This ride leaves from Ripley's Believe It Or Not museum, just inside of the old village.

Ripley's Museum

Ghost Train Tours

Now, before you go and explore the hanted past of this old village, take the day to walk the downtown area. With great liitle restauraunts and shopping, a must to venture to is St Georges Street, which is a pedestrian mall. For further info on one of the trolly tours, please visit; http://www.trolleytours.com/st-augustine/. Ok, so we just talked about visiting St. Augustines Pedestrian Mall, shown below is just that, and only some of the shopping this small city has to offer.

Some other great hot spots to go and visit while staying in St. Augustine is a walk to the Fort which is right in the center but on the shoreline, and all a long the great little shops and eateries surrounding the town green. Be aware though, do to hard economic times, you may see a lot more than usual homeless, especially in the evening and night time. So always lock car doors and keep money and wallets in the fron pockets of you pants, shorts, or fanny pack. For more information on visiting St. Augustine in General, please visit http://www.staugustineinns.com/default.php or http://www.staugustineattractions.net/index.php.

For this trip Joe and I give this a score of 9, do to the little bit more of the homelessness at night.

Until next time all, Joe and I wish you well, keep following us and our blog on our travels to new and exciting and very friendly places for all walks of life that are not as touristy as the major cities of NYC, Miami, etc. Thanks Again and as always, be safe, be happy, be well, and love all.

Shawn and Joe

From Fort Lauderdale to Naples, Florida

2011-06-27T09:03:00.000-07:00

Good morning everybody and welcome to another post from Joe and Shawn. This time, as we are going to remain in Florida, and on the gulf side of the state, we want to share with you all about our trip to Naples, Florida. So come on y'all, lets go travel Naples together!!!!

Traveling to Naples, Florida is a great trip in itself. This small city has a lot to offer in the way of night life, shopping, eating, swimming, and staying. First lets get on off to the hotel. A great place to stay, with an awesome courtyard and swimming pool, is at the Best Western located at 2329 Ninth St N, this Best Western is awesome. Walk the grounds and swim in one of its 2 pools, each lined with tropical foliage, small ponds, and all. The prices here were awesome, and located right up the road from a shopping mall and other places of shopping and eating and 1 mile from the Gulf of Mexico beaches, this hotel was great and is very affordable with very polite people.

Best Western courtyard view from our room Naples, Florida

After you are settled in and done roaming the grounds, take a short walk to any of the shopping plazas right by your hotel, or take a small drive to the beach. Many photographers head to the Beaches in Naples in the evening, as these places offer great images of sunsets, apart from the great sandy beaches and waters. You can walk the Pier and shoot some photos of Dolphins, people, storms, and sunsets, or you can just stay right on the beach. You can even walk a long the road that closest to the beach and enjoy all of the huge homes. Just bring some bug spray, as Joe and I found out when we became dinner for the local mosquito's.

View from the Pier in Naples, Florida

Joe doing the commentary on our video

Naples Beach

Sunset from Naples, Beach

Joe and is new friend who he happily named "Wilson"

Now if not interested in going to the beach or a shopping plaza, or you just want to do something else for the day, it is a must to go to the 5th Avenue South and 3rd Street South, AKA downtown Naples, and visit all of the unique shopping and eating there. The roads a lined with great little shops and eating, is also a place for a good walk, morning, noon, or night, and holds a wide variety of local shops along with national shops.

Mc Cabes Irish Pub and Grill, recommended eating here

Shopping the main road in Naples at night

Early morning eating and walking on the main drag in Naples

    Now, if you are a new tourist to this area, Naples is the perfect getaway place to come visit. With its many offerings to the locals and tourists, this small city has it all. From great eating and shopping, to fantastic hotels and beaches. Joe and I recommend coming on down to Naples for a visit.

    We both agree that Naples deserves a 10+ for a score.

    For more information on places to stay and visit, please visit; http://www.naples-florida.com/, http://www.paradisecoast.com/, or http://attractionguide.com/naples/. Thanks Again to all, and until the next time, where Joe and I will bring you all to another awesome place for visiting and friendly to all. As always, take care, be safe, be happy, and love.

Blessings and Big Bear hugs, Joe and Shawn

Heading on down to Fort Lauderdale, Florida Part 1

2011-06-22T11:18:00.000-07:00

Good afternoon everybody, today on Shawn and Joe's new post, we are going to tell you all about Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In this post we will give our favorite place to stay, eat, and all of the shopping down there as well as our favorite club to go to. Hang on to your shorts, we are heading south to Florida.

Now that we are here in Sunny Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Joe and I want to take you to the best place to stay first, this way you can get your room and then get right on our to the famous Sebastian Beach, Fort Lauderdale's LGBT Beach. Our favorite place to stay when we come to Fort Lauderdale is at The Coconut Cove Guesthouse. Owner David is an awesome host and an all around awesome person who is very knowledgeable of the whole gay scene in Fort Lauderdale. Coconut Cove Fort Lauderdales only Clothing Optional gay men's guesthouse closest to the beach. The rooms are very affordable, and the grounds are perfect. With an in ground swimming pool, and very well kept courtyard, everybody here is like one big family. http://www.coconutcoveguesthouse.com/

Host and Owner of Coconut Cove Guesthouse, Dave

Entrance to Guesthouse

Pool Side view of Court yard

Joe in the lounge area of courtyard where guest can get to know one another,
Dave, Peanut (Dave's Bird), as well as read the newspaper and have a small breakfast.

Courtyard Center Looking up at some of the room balconies

Looking down into the courtyard, sorry some of the pictures are a tiny
blurry, it was windy that night. The Guest House is very beautiful and very well kept by Dave and his Staff.

Joe and I sitting talking to Dave as he took our picture.

Now if its shopping you want to do, then a great place to check out is the Saw Grass mall, about a 30-45 minute drive from the Guest house. Now there is another mall in Fort Lauderdale as well heading towards the Saw Grass mall, and although not as big, this mall to offers some good shopping. Saw Grass mall is about 1 mile long and offers many shops along with all of the outside stores.

Floor map of Sawgrass Mall

As well, Fort Lauderdale is about a 20 minute drive to Famous South Beach, Miami as well. Then there is Wilton Manors, the gay district of Fort Lauderdale, with many little LGBT stores, eating, and night life, Wilton Manors is the new up and coming LGBT section of Fort Lauderdale. If you stay in this area, a great little place to eat is The Courtyard Cafe located right next to the awesome Bills Filling Station, a night club for the LGBT community. This awesome little cafe, has awesome deals, awesome food, and the staff here are great people. http://www.wiltonmanorscourtyardcafe.com/index.html.

Now just before you get to Wilton Manors a must go to place is Pride Factory http://pridefactory.myshopify.com/. This unique and awesome little store has everything pride. From Bear Pride, Rainbow Pride, and all else. With a wide variety of movies, clothing, hats, and more, Pride Factory is one of our favorite places to stop. They also have a ton of knowledge about the local LGBT community so please feel free to ask while you are there. Now after a fun day of shopping and eating, you are going to need to relax a little bit before more walking and dinning, so our advice is either relax down at the Coconut Cove pool, or take a quick walk to Sebastian Beach and relax to the sound of the ocean and for some people watching.

Sebastian Beach

Fort Lauderdale Beaches and Shore Line

Now when it come to dinner time, take a short walk down A1A south, and there is so many great little restaurants to eat at, to many to list here. Each is great in its own way and each offer a range of great food. Be prepared though, some of these dishes are big, but worth every last bite. With so much to do here in Fort Lauderdale, there simply just is no room to tell you everything. So until next time, please keep following us 2 bears here on our blog for more fun, great places to visit, stay, shop, and eat, and when you get to Coconut Cove Guesthouse, tell Dave Shawn and Joe recommended the Guesthouse to you. Part 2 of this trip will be added as soon as Joe and I get back from Fort Lauderdale in about 3.5 weeks from now. For more LGBT friendly places in Fort Lauderdale and the surrounding area, please feel free to visit the links blow.

http://pridefactory.myshopify.com/

http://www.thecubbyhole.com/

http://www.pridecityguide.com/City/Fort-Lauderdale

http://billsfillingstation.com/beta/index.html

Our score so far for this trip is definitely a 10+.

Thanks Again to all, be safe, be happy, love one another, and be kind.

Luvs and Big Bear hugs

Shawn and Joe

Road Trip to Province Town, MA

2011-06-21T07:11:00.000-07:00

Good morning everybody and welcome to another post by Shawn and Joe, where we as an openly gay bear couple share with you our travels each day, give recommendations, a score for the trip, and tell you all about it. Today, Joe and I would like to take you all out by the Sea to a small town that is world famous for being the gay mecca in the Northern Atlantic Ocean. Today we are taking you to P-Town Cape Cod, MA.

Welcome to Famous P-Town

Welcome to P-Town, this small town has so much to offer not only to the LGBT community, but to everybody. This is one of those places where, you need to at least stay a long weekend in order to do and see everything. The best time to go if you are looking to stay away from crowds and still have an awesome time is late spring early fall when it is the off season for this town. Each week and weekend end there is something new going on entertainment wise, shopping wise, eating wise, etc. With clubs, drag shows, shopping, eating, places to stay, the beaches, or the walking trails, this is an awesome little place to see. You can even take the Ferry over to Boston and shop around Quincy Market or Boston in general.

Above is a map of P-Town and even though it does not show all of the sites to see, shop, eat, and stay at, they are there. Commercial Street is the place to be if you are looking for all of the P-Town shopping and eating. With all sorts of awesome little shops and restaurants, everything is within walking distance. Now if you drive up, there are a few places where you have to pay daily to park at, as parking is limited in this town. There parking spots, the biggest being right next to the pier, and this area has a ticket machine in which you take the ticket, put it on your dash board and pay when you are leaving. So please if you staying make sure about parking from the hotel or Inn where your are staying. There is a variety of different places to shop at, along Commercial Street, which is what all of the next few pictures are of.

One of our favorite places to stop while at P-Town is the pier where you can sit and watch all the boats come in and out. Now, along with everything to do here at P-Town, during the summer months the prices here for staying do rise, as this is their in season, and these places fill up quick. So we recommend planning your stay there a few months in advance. Most places during the summer months here also require a minimum stay of 4 nights, and some are even pet friendly, so you can bring a long your best 4 legged friends as well.
Please keep in mind though, P-Town is a busy little town that get a lot of people, so if you get worried about walking your dogs around people or anything, then we would advise not to bring the pets. Now, P-Town is also well known for all of the various dances and parades it has also. In mid July, P-town is host to one of the biggest events in American, known as Bear Week.

For more info on this week in July please visit; http://www.ptownbears.org/event/event.asp. For a complete list of all P-Town summer events please visit; http://www.ptown.org/Calendar.asp. This little town even has a Portuguese Festival as well, which is a very cool thing to come and see.

Now if you are looking to stay here for a long weekend or vacation, there are many awesome places to stay within town limits as well as all of cape cod. With lots of cool little B&B's, you have a variety of pet friendly places and places that are just quiet little guesthouses with a lot of good food and privacy. Whether you want to come for a day, a weekend, or vacation, P-Town is an awesome little town to come and visit. Joe and I both recommend any of the places to eat and shop at, as they are all great in their own way. We would also like to give this trip a score of 10, for all of the things this little town has to offer for anybody looking to get away.

Thanks for visiting all, and until next time where these 2 bears share with you another place we recommend checking out, be safe, be happy, love, and hugs. Shawn and Joe

Heading to North Hampton, Ma

2011-06-20T08:05:00.000-07:00

Good morning and welcome to another edition/ post to 2 Bears and Our Travels. Today Joe and I are going to be showing you some more of New England, as we take you all virtually, sort of, to North Hampton, MA. This very unigue, diverse, and LGBT friendly community is a great place to visit. With such a wide variety of eating and shopping. This small town, has a wide range of people and businesses for the avid traveler find and see. Its main street is lined with 5 star restauraunts; to many to list, awesome little shops, museums, and a large LGBT community. Now because my husband and I, are bears, we love coming to this small town as much as we can for the many bears that live hear. So there is a good sized bear community as well.
Our first stop on this trip is to North Hampton's gay section right off the main street and on Crafts Avenue is one of our favorite LGBT stores called Pride and Joy, http://www.nohoprideandjoy.com/. This store offeres a lot and everything to do with the LGBT community. It serves as a travel information spot for the LGBT community and a store. THey have everything from clothing, stickers, mugs, has, jewelry, movies, music, magazines, and much much more.

North Hampton, MA Pride Parade

Now, if you wish to come to the North Hampton Pride Parade, each year this small town hosts its pride parade at the beginning of each May, so please make sure you make all reservations a head of time. For more information on Noho Pride, please visit; http://www.site.nohopride.org/Home.html, or if you are coming up to North Hampton, you may also stop by Pride and Joy in the gay district at 20 Crafts Avenue.

Welcome to Downtown North Hampton, MA

Whether you are coming to this great little diversified town in located in the beautiful Berkshire Mountains of New England for a day, a weekend, for a week, or to live. This small town seemingly has a lot of things to offer its people and travelers from all walks of life. The community is very friendly to all, and has such a great, upbeat, welcoming, and accepting atmosphere that everyone who comes here will be sure to have a great time.
Our score for this unique and great little town is a 10. For all of the many things for the LGBT community that this town does and offers, as well as all of its great dowtown shopping, live entertainment, and eating. This place surely diserves the best score possible. Until next time everyone, keep on following our blog for more exciting, friendly, and less touristy places to visit and go. For now this is Shawn and Joe and we hope you have happy travels, always be safe, and have fun.

Thanks Again to all and Blessings
Shawn and Joe

Going to Bennington, VT

2011-06-17T10:00:00.000-07:00

Good morning everybody and welcome to another post and a new exciting location that is friendly to all. Today Joe and I would like to take you on a trip to a small little country town with a great little center full of local shops and eateries. Not to far up from the Massachusetts/ Vermont line is a small town called Bennington. This cool little town has some real cool little shops down in the center, a great place to park and walk around try some of the towns little coffee shops or eateries. If you are going for a meal, a must stop is Carmody's Irish Pub. Although this place looks expensive, it really isn't. It is family oriented and a real fun clean place to eat.

Welcome to Bennington, VT

Looking at the intersection of Routes 7 & 9
in downtown Bennington.

After walking the downtown area and you still want to see more of this small country town, at the intersection of routes 7 and 9, take a left, West on route 9 until you see these really old looking barns and a dirt parking lot. This place is called Camelot Village. These little shops offer more of the small country town feel, with a gift shop, when we were there a Christmas shop, a general store, and an antiques store. On the way to Camelot Village, you can also go and visit the Bennington, Vermont War Memorial. This memorial gives a fantastic view and is just a real awesome thing to see. http://camelotcraftcenter.com/

Now, although coming to Bennington is awesome during the summer, driving up to this town and the country during the fall at height foliage, is even more beautiful and spectacular. Located in the Green Mountains, Bennington's roads offer great foliage and scenery during the fall for any avid person who loves to drive on country roads during the fall. Some of the best photos come from Vermont's foliage and is a must do if you are coming during peek foliage.

Bennington, Vt War Memorial

Driving Bennington for Fall Foliage in the Green Mountains

A little farther north of Bennington is another small little upbeat town named Middlebury. With slightly less shops, the stores and eateries that are there make this little town a real cool place to visit and walk. You can eat right on the river or at any of the other great little eateries there and all the people are very welcoming and friendly.

Welcome to Middlebury, Vt

If its a more country feel you are going for on your trip, you can head East on Route 9 and go to Wilmington, where there is a few country stores, general stores, and a lot of the whole country feel style of shops or you can take a nice long drive into the Green Mountains and country side along route 100 for more fantastic views and picture taking. If it is skiing you are into, Vermont has a few real awesome ski resorts open during the winter that are real close to Bennington and Wilmington, that offer great prices and a lot of snowy fun for you and your friends and family.

Here is a map showing all of Vermont's Ski resorts.

Well, that is all Joe and I have time for today, but we do both hope that when and if you do make it to Vermont, that you enjoy as much as we did and find lots of awesome little things that we did as well. Our Score for this day/ weekend trip we rate at a strong 9, for its scenery, little country shops, skiing, and small town feel. Thanks again all and keep on following our blog here as each day we will bring a new travel to you. Thanks again and where ever you travel to, be happy, be safe, and be in love.

Shawn and Joe

Old Mystic, CT

2011-06-16T11:12:00.000-07:00

     Good Afternoon all and thanks for coming back to see the next place my husband Joe and I would love to share with you all. Today I would like to talk about a place that is right in our home state of Connecticut. This is an awesome little day trip for people wanting to get out, enjoy the shoreline, camp, whatever you can think of. This awesome little day trip is in Old Mystic, CT. Now, all pictures I have posted on this post, are not mine. I unfortunately do not have any pictures of my own, so all rights and credit go to the people who took these photos as well as the town of Mystic itself.
     This little town in Connecticut, has a lot to offer the traveler, it offers a lot of little eateries and places to stay overnight including camping a few minutes on each side. It is a coastline community, so easy beach access is also right there. Now, Mystic as small as it is, has a few different places for local mom and pop shops to outlet shopping and even the famous, Mystic Pizza, where the movie itself was filmed.
      First we will start our tour of Mystic at Old Mystic Village and Aquarium. Not to far from either Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun Casinos, Old Mystic Village is right on the main road, and has a lot of little unique shops in it. Park in the main parking lot, and start walking, because this little village does not allow cars to drive through.

www.oldem...llage.com/
map.aspx

This little village offers to its visitors and awesome array or little shops, a movie theater, the Famous Mystic Aquarium, and may other things. You can walk through this little village and shop or sit and relax and watch all of the ducks.

Next while in Mystic, certain times of the year, much like any other town, Mystic holds an art festival. If you manage to hit the time just right, this is an awesome little festival to check out. There are a lot of cool works down there from local artists and more.

Now, if you done in the village or want to start your trip in Downtown Mystic, walk along the main road and visit all of the great little mom and pop shops there and have a bite to eat in one of the many good restaurants. One thing that Joe and I do recommend for food is Mystic Pizza. These guys really know how to make'em, their food is absolutely great, great service, and the hottest place to eat in the Downtown area. But This place is always busy, so be prepared to wait for a bit for a table to open up.

Now in the Downtown area, there is also a small board walk that people can walk on along the water as well. This is not a very long walk from what Joe and I remember, but it is a nice one.

This is one of two pictures I had found for the Aquarium, this is very kid friendly as well as LGBT friendly. The people here are great and very informative, and when Joe and I went we did not have any problem from others because we were gay. This is a cool little aquarium to walk through and explore.

Next on our trip to Mystic, and not to far of a drive from there, You have both Foxwoods Resort and Casino and Mohegan Sun Resort and Casino. Both are fantastic places to spend some time, and money for that matter of fact, and walk through their little shopping malls and tourist attractions.

If at all, you are to be staying, and coming up in the month of July, a most see and also not to far down I-95 South is New London, CT. Every year they hold Sailfest, a huge street festival full of great food, lots of people, lots of small vendors, and all of the downtown stores stay open late. If you are part of the LGBT community, New London, also has a few gay bars as well right down by the Pier that are always packed and open as well. There is Live Music and when the sun goes down, take a seat either on top of a parking garage or the pier and watch the amazing fireworks display that the casinos put on. The Fireworks last just about an hour long, and are some of the best this small little state has to offer. If you choose to go to Sailfest, please keep in mind, parking is on a street and there is thousands of people in the streets, so like always, please be safe, lock the car doors, make sure all purses and wallets are safely hidden and always stay together because there is such a large amount of people walking the fair. If you do not like crowded areas or large crowds, this is not the festival for you to walk through and you may just be better finding a place to sit and patiently wait for the fireworks to start.
All in all, Joe and I rate this little trip as yet another 10. With so much to do, see, so many places to visit, shop, and eat, Mystic, Ct and all it has to offer any visitor is just a real awesome fun day trip or weekend trip to come on over to. Right off of I-95, this small little town keeps is local mom and pop shops and local eateries, but has so much to offer everybody. Until tomorrow all, thanks Again and safe travels to all.

Shawn and Joe you 2 friendly traveling gay bears.

Introduction and Portsmouth, NH/ Kittery, ME

2011-06-14T16:06:00.001-07:00

Hello to all who find this blog and pass it on, my name is Shawn, I am a happily married, to the love of my life Joe, gay man who loves to travel and explore new places and things. In this Blog I want to share some of mine and my husbands travels. I will recommend places, and things not just for the LGBT community for for everyone, fun things that my husband and I have come across in and during our travels. Each day I will post a new place that we have visited and on a scale of 1 - 10, him and I will rate each place, 10 being the best. Over the past 6 years him and I have travelled far and near to different shopping malls, towns, states, restaurants, and more and we would like to share them all with you. I will post images of each place and with a caption underneath the image I will share our thoughts and scoring so to speak. In this first post I will be sharing with you one of our all time favorite places to visit, Portsmouth, NH. I hope you all enjoy. Thanks Again and Blessings Shawn and Joe.

Welcome to Historic Portsmouth, NH. Our favorite place to visit, this small little town, has a large downtown center. The downtown area is packed full of quaint little mom and pop shops, all with awesome products, food, coffee houses, and more. Each summer, the whole downtown area is closed off for weekend street fairs. There is public parking in a few different places in this town, but you have to pay in each.Prices will vary on time spent parked if you pay a ticket machine for parking, you just put the ticket on your dashboard, this way you do not get a ticket from the meter maid. Each ticket has the time of expiration which, keep an eye on the time as time flies when walking through this awesome little city/ town for the day, and if you pay by coins you have to pay the meter. This is a real up beat awesome little city to visit, shop, walk, explore, and eat.

Downtown shops, this is the main square in downtown Portsmouth, NH.

Small little ally ways with shops line some of the street of this beautiful historic but up beat little town.

Main Street Portsmouth.

Now just North, 1 exit up on I-95 after the downtown Portsmouth exit, you have Kittery, ME and all of the outlets shops. Sorry I do not have any pictures of Kittery, but it is also an awesome area to visit, always lots of people there so be careful walking around as there is a lot of traffic. These shops are done real nice, great parking, and great prices. Joe recommends trying some of the seafood restaurants in either Portsmouth or Kittery and I say Steak Houses are the best, but to each his own. There is no paid parking here you just park in a plaza and start walking and shopping. Kittery Outlets is a lot more walking so be sure to bring comfy shoes. We simply cannot give an individual score to any one place in this town, as we love everything about it. Located right on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean, there are parks, beach areas, downtown shops, and awesome restaurants everywhere. The whole trip including Kittery, ME we give a 10.