Reddit mentions of Weird New England: Your Travel Guide to New England's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets

I guess it really depends what part of New England you are in/intend to be in and how far you want to drive. New England is a pretty big place both in terms of space and variety of culture and things to do.

Here's a couple that come to mind as my girlfriend and I recently had a (relatively) cheap and romantic days doing these. It may not appeal or be practical for you though depending on where you are and how much money you can spend on gas or other expenses.

In New Hampshire the White Mountain National Forrest is pretty much one of the most beautiful places you can see in this part of the country. The Kancamagus Highway (scenic byway) winds through it. It's an incredible drive with many places to stop off and see the views or go exploring. You could find a hiking trail ahead of time if you like. It's the kind of place you could pull over and walk 50 feet from the road and find a gorgeous pool in river with mountains all around you and go skinny dipping. There's a lot of other stuff up there too like the Flume Gorge. It's $13.00 each to visit the Flume Gorge, but NH's State park system is entirely funded by user fees (no taxes) so no one's making money off your admission, it's just funding the upkeep of the park. It's a pretty amazing place. There's lot of other wonderful things to see up there. Just get lost driving around and don't be afraid to leave the car.

Whale watches are also relatively cheap. We took one out of Rye Harbor, NH this past weekend that took us up to Jeffery's Ledge off the coast a Maine which is a prime feeding ground right now. We saw two Fin whales right up close (apparently two together is a rarity) that were much larger than the boat we were on. They came right up to us so close that I got a good whiff of whale breath. We also got to see two humpbacks very close-up who were feeding together. They were doing a lot of bubble nets. Every few minutes we'd spot a bubble net, and then wait for the two to come lunging up out of the water head-first with their mouths wide open scooping up all of the fish. A Minke whale followed us around for a good long while too. There were naturalists on board cataloging the whales we saw and their behavior and able to identify and tell us about the history of the different individual whales we saw. Almost all of the whales were older than me (27) which for some reason I thought was really cool. Those tickets were thirty bucks each but still with a picnic lunch packed it was a fairly cheap and wonderful day together. Might be too rich for your blood right now, but if you can afford it, you could do worse than spend $60 for a day at sea together seeing freaking awesome whales. It was also a whale watch not run by a touring company but by the Blue Ocean Society which is a marine conservation non-profit so it's $60 that helps do a little extra good than some other activities you could spend that cash on.

Those excursions all require driving and gas, but otherwise, if you pack your own food are pretty cheap and lovely ways to spend a summer day. There's plenty of other ideas but those are two and now I must get back to work.

EDIT: I almost forgot. For something different and more interesting than just the scenic outdoors (but still outdoors) check out "Weird New England". Goto your local cooperate bookstore and get a coffee. Then sit down with a copy of this book and browse through stuff that's in your area or somewhere you're willing to drive to a make list of stuff to try to find and explore. No book purchase necessary. Or better yet, see if your local library has a copy to check-out.

EDIT AGAIN: There's also this website to peruse. http://www.strangene.com/home.htm

I did a lot of stuff out of this book

Visiting the "haunted" places with a friend was the best part. Nothing all that scary (besides melonheads) but hanging out was the best part.

Also, check out Derby. Like the whole city.

Not the same, but check out Weird New England

http://www.amazon.com/Weird-New-England-Englands-Legends/dp/1402733305

You used to be able to find these in like every bookstore ever