How to travel New England without losing the mustache (in August22)

[Anette]

Living in Germany and we have not been to the States in 10 years. However, this August we are planning a three week vacation in New England.
We have the f!ights, a hotel booking for five nights in NYC plus we have booked a rental car.
We, my DH and I and our youngest daughter(18) will be travelling New England and would love to include some nights By the seaside, Boston, Vermont (Burlington, Vergennes, Middlebury, Fort Ticonderoga) and Niagra Falls.
Our daughter will be with us for 11 days (16 if you include NYC! . On the 12th day we will need to drop her off at JFK and then we get to spend another week by ourselves.
While on the road ( all three of us) we will also want to include some outlet/mall shopping..
From what I can see from overseas everything seems very expensive (hotels, b&bs)
Does anyone have recommendations for travelling this part of the States? Any must sees? Where to look for reasonable  prices?
Any help welcome!

[uniwelder]

While on the road ( all three of us) we will also want to include some outlet/mall shopping..

If you’re looking for a mustachian experience, try shopping at the thrift stores- Goodwill and YMCA. You can find some awesome clothes and dresses for about $4. It also seems to be uniquely American, as foreigners I’ve met haven’t heard the concept.

[jrhampt]

I will address the seashore part of this.  In August you will be competing with all the other parents whose kids are off school, so everything will be more expensive (except maybe the last week when the kids start going back for football camps etc.).  My favorite low-cost way to see Cape Cod (the best seashores in New England with the possible exception of some of the islands) is to get a camping spot at Nickerson State Park in Brewster which is right on the bike trail - so you can bike everywhere too - including to the National Seashore - and eliminate traffic and parking issues all at the same time.  You have to reserve pretty far ahead but sometimes you get cancellations and you can set up an email alert to look for this (this is how we got a last minute spot for 4th of July weekend one year, which would otherwise be totally impossible).  Taking the passenger ferry to Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard from the Cape for a day trip is also much less expensive than staying on the islands and you can rent bikes on the islands - lots of bike paths so you can go everywhere and see all the beaches, lighthouses, etc. I also think the Cliff Walk in Newport, Rhode Island is a great free activity (about 7 miles round trip and you see lots of the old mansions that Newport is famous for). If you don't want to pay out the nose for food which has inflated quite a bit recently, I always recommend finding a hotel or better yet, timeshare/airbnb with a full or partial kitchen.

There is only one National Park in New England - Acadia, which is in Maine.  It will be absolutely mobbed in August but it does have a lot of great hikes and geological features to see, and there are some campgrounds if you wanted to stay on the cheap.

[Anette]

While on the road ( all three of us) we will also want to include some outlet/mall shopping..

If you’re looking for a mustachian experience, try shopping at the thrift stores- Goodwill and YMCA. You can find some awesome clothes and dresses for about $4. It also seems to be uniquely American, as foreigners I’ve met haven’t heard the concept.

Thank you! Yes that would be awesome if we can find thrift stores. I thought I it might be more of a thing to find in the South but I am basically clueless.
My DH is a Vermonter but basically grew up in London/England and only spend his summers in Vt and I am German. We have been married for 29 years and only made it back to the States ( where we met) once, 12 years ago....