Arthur may be out looking for the next best roller coaster, and this blog has been discontinued. Thanks for visiting and happy travels!

Sometimes the questions sent to my mailbag are quite vague, and I really don't know how to best answer them. For example, Bert writes:

Hello Arthur. We will be visiting New England the last week in August. We have never been in that area of the US. We will be flying into Chicopee, MA and want to know some of the sights we need to see in Massachusetts for a couple of days. We want to make round trip from the airport throughout some of the adjoining states. Can you give me a list of must-sees in the general area?

Two days, eh Bert? I'm not sure that's enough time to visit Chicopee, let alone the rest of the state. Massachusetts may look relatively small on a U.S. map, but there are some distinct, diverse regions here and plenty to see and do in all of them. Narrowing it down to create a two-day itinerary would depend a lot on your interests, the age levels of your traveling party, your budget, and other factors. Do you want to see historic sites? Museums? Nature? Beaches? The list goes on. But, I'll give it a shot and offer some general thoughts.

I couldn't imagine visiting Massachusetts for the first time without heading to Boston. The world-class, walking-friendly city offers history, culture, shopping, dining, and more. Among the sites to explore are the history-rich Freedom Trail, the simultaneously upscale and tacky Chntzy, er, Quincy Market (consider dining at the ancient and oh-so-Boston Durgin-Park), and the lovely Boston Public Garden, the first public botanical garden in the U.S., and the home of the quirky Swan Boats.

Since you're flying in and out of Chicopee, which is in the central part of the state, you could head west to the breathtaking Berkshires. The mountains are lovely, and there are many sites to visit, including the Norman Rockwell Museum, Mass MoCA (Museum of Contemporary Art), and the verdant Mohawk Trail.

That's more than two days worth of fun, and I haven't even touched on Cape Cod (visiting Massachusetts in the summer and not frolicking on the Cape's beaches would be crazy--crazy, I tell you), Salem and the rest of the North Shore, and countless other spots beckoning throughout our fair state. Bert, why not give yourself at least a week in Massachusetts alone or plan on coming back when you can spend more time?

Photo: The Swan Boats of Boston