For several years (sans 2020 because, well, the pandemic), I’ve quietly snuck away for a long solo weekend in New England. Boston is my favorite US city. I’ve spent hours walking the narrow streets of the North End, trying regional craft brews at almost every pub in the town, and embarrassing myself with my out-of-tune singing of “Sweet Caroline” at Fenway Park. But, every year for four days in the fall, my cell phone gets turned off when I reach the airport, and once I arrive at Logan, I hop in a rental car and head west. It’s hard to avoid a place wrapped in so much history, so I return to Concord yearly. It’s like a siren in Walden Pond calling me home.

My plan is simple – see the leaves changing. Depending on when I get to go, sometimes I’m just a tad too early but still manage to see a few, and other years I’ve made it just as the leaves turn and before they fall off for the winter. Fall in New England is a breathtaking sight. As someone who likes structure, organization, and agendas, I try to let myself escape from the world for some time. My phone stays off except for using it as a GPS.

One of the reasons for the rental car is to be a bit mercurial for a change. I’ve visited Olneyville N.Y. System in Providence, Rhode Island; a random coffee shop between Providence and Newport; the LL Bean campus; Duckfat in Portland, Maine; and the Hermit Thrush Brewery in Brattleboro, Vermont. If something comes up on my radar within about a three-hour drive, I’ll add it to the list to eventually visit.

Most people that know me know how much I love history. I learned to read from social studies and history books and read maps before reading chapter books. You know the role Concord and Lexington played in the American Revolution. The Concord Museum houses one of the two lanterns Paul Revere lit that fateful night at the Old North Church. The Wayside Inn in Sudbury was the setting for Longfellow’s infamous “Tales of a Wayside Inn” poem.

The one thing about Concord that just blows my mind, however, is the number of great American authors that have come through there – Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and yes, Longfellow (historian and author Doris Kearns Goodwin calls it home now). The Concord Museum needs a Gantt chart just to keep up with everything. I remember my first visit to Walden Pond. I had read Walden, and if you’ve read any Thoreau, you know about his love for nature. It’s easy to see why. The drive through the countryside up there is unmatched.

It’s my happy place. But more importantly, it’s my time to disconnect from the busyness of life and just breathe. I find myself more centered and refreshed when I return. It’s one of the best things I can do for my self-care.