>> NARRATOR: Come along for a once-in-a-lifetime journey through New England as you've never experienced it before.

A true insider's guide from the editors of Yankee magazine.

Join explorer, adventurer, and traveler Richard Wiese and his co-host, Yankee senior food editor Amy Traverso, for behind-the-scenes access to the unique attractions that define this region as they uncover the hidden New England that only locals know.

It's the ultimate travel guide from the people who know it best.

Coming up on Weekends with Yankee: Richard heads to Nantucket, where he sails into history on the tall ship Lynx.

>> And you're welcome to take the wheel if you want.

>> WIESE: All right, terrific.

>> You just kind of pick, pick your landmark where we are right now and, and you can steer for that.

>> WIESE: Okay.

(cannon fires) >> NARRATOR: Moving northward, up in the clouds with a breathtaking array of hot air balloons that fill the sky in the scenic town of Quechee, Vermont.

Next, Amy gets a prime tour of one of Maine's little-known gems: Erin French's Lost Kitchen, which is one of the most sought-after dinner reservations in all of New England.

>> Welcome, I just wanted to pause for a moment to welcome you all.

For those of you I don't know really well already, I'm Erin French, and this is my restaurant and total dream come true.

>> NARRATOR: And finally, Richard heads for Cape Cod, for a dune tour he'll never forget.

>> When the Pilgrims came here, this was all forest.

So they started coming out here and chopping trees down.

Eventually, the sand was uncovered, and then the wind created these dunes from man's destruction of the forest.

>> NARRATOR: All coming up next on Weekends with Yankee.

>> NARRATOR: First stop on our journey is the island of Nantucket, off the coast of Cape Cod.

Founded in the 1600s as a whaling community, the Nantucket Harbor is a popular point of entry for island visitors and destination for hundreds of boats over the summer months, from dinghies to magnificent yachts.

>> WIESE: Hi, thanks for waiting.

>> NARRATOR: Today, Richard is traveling off the coast for an adventure on what might be the most impressive of all the sea vessels in Nantucket Bay: the tall ship Lynx.

Built in 2001, this sharp-built schooner allows visitors to experience an important piece of American maritime history.

♪ ♪ (people talking in background) >> WIESE: It's a beautiful day out on Nantucket Harbor.

Just behind me is the tall ship the Lynx, and it's a replica of an 1812 ship.

Winds are a little light today, but hopefully, they'll be kicking up a little later on.

Morning.

>> Good morning.

>> WIESE: How are you?

>> Standbys at the main!

>> Standbys at the main!

>> Strike the engine.

>> Strike the engine.

>> So what they're doing now is, we have a couple of lines that we have to cast off before we haul the sail up.

We have to bring our ensign down, so we have to catch it.

So on a ship, it can touch the deck, it just can't touch the water.

My name is Casey Laaro, I'm the chief mate aboard the topsail schooner Lynx.

I'm from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

I ended up on Nantucket through my many adventures on the schooner Lynx here.

She's partnered with the Egan Maritime Institute here in Nantucket, and this is my fourth summer aboard the ship here, taking students out and passengers for lovely sails like today.

You want to head up over there with Ken, there.

>> WIESE: Ken, okay.

>> You're going to be on our peak halyard.

>> NARRATOR: This is not your typical harbor cruise.

All the passengers on the tall ship act as crew, and help hoist its impressive sails.

>> WIESE: All right, you tell me, you tell me.

>> You're going to be right here.

>> WIESE: Okay.

>> Okay, get him hauling up and down with you.

>> What's that?

>> Get... get Richard... >> WIESE: This is like a tug-of-war where you better win.

>> NARRATOR: Not one to sit back and miss a good adventure, Richard volunteers for a little hands-on experience himself, even if it's just to capture a brief taste of what it feels like to step back in time and hoist a sail on this magnificent ship.

>> All on peak throat, haul away!

>> Haul away!

♪ ♪ Easy, peak!

(laughing) >> NARRATOR: The chief mate calls out the commands, and with the help of an experienced crew, the passengers help the boat to catch wind.

>> Schooner!

>> ALL: Peaks!

>> Schooner!

>> ALL: Peaks!

>> One more!

>> Schooner!

>> ALL: Peaks!

>> That's full throat!

>> One more!

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >> WIESE: Okay, not bad.

>> Fore.

>> Set, fore.

>> Whooo!

>> Just like that.

>> WIESE: Yes.

Ready to sweat?

♪ ♪ >> One more, Taylor.

That's well, Taylor and Richard.

>> WIESE: Okay, so, the engines are off, and does that mean we are under sail?

>> We are under sail.

(talking in background) >> So we're not going terribly fast, but I like to call this the speed of discovery.

The speed in which they discovered the world in.

We've got seven sails up and we're good to go.

♪ ♪ >> WIESE: It feels great to be under sail.

>> You know at 114 tons, this is one of the experiences you can have here on Nantucket walking down a sidewalk as our beautiful Douglas fir decks.

And welcome to Nantucket.

>> WIESE: Thank you-- where are we headed?

>> So, we have the beautiful iconic lighthouse Great Point behind us, and now we're headed towards the North Shore, and going to take the channel heading into Nantucket Harbor with the Brant Point Light.

And you're welcome to take the wheel, if you want.

>> WIESE: All right, terrific.

>> You just kind of pick, pick your landmark where we are right now, and, and you can steer for that.

>> WIESE: Okay.

>> NARRATOR: The Lynx is a close replica of the original privateer of the same name, built in 1812 by Thomas Kemp in Fells Point, Maryland.

She was among the first ships to wage the war for American freedom by evading the British Naval Fleet in the War of 1812.

>> WIESE: What is the length, and the weight, and the sails, and the height of the mast... >> Yeah, so we're 100 feet off the water to the mast top.

We're 23 feet of beam and a nine-foot draft.

And we're 114 berthing tons.

This Lynx is about a two-thirds replica interpretation of the original ship.

But there was a tremendous effort to adhere to the early details.

The maritime group that got together to build this ship actually found the original plans from 1813 and they used that to help design the ship.

They-- everybody knew what these ships looked like by profile, but nobody knew what the decks or below deck were like in order to, to build.

>> Hands to braces.

When sharp, starboard tack.

>> NARRATOR: Working in conjunction with Nantucket's Egan Maritime Institute, the Lynx teaches a piece of American maritime history by providing more of a hands-on experience than one could ever experience in a classroom, teaching seamanship and history to those who step aboard her deck.

>> Egan has brought as many as 1,000 kids through the school system that have had experiential learning on deck.

The kids all participate in all the watches that we do: anchor watch, bow watch, lookouts.

They're all participating in every sail evolution that we do.

So those are the things that we translate, and probably 98% of sailors are not going to evolve into this type of traditional sailing.

But we have Nantucket students out in school right now that are going to come out with third mate... third mate unlimited oceans licenses, that they can be an officer on any vessel.

And maybe the first vessel that they got on of any significance was Lynx.

>> Are we pricked and primed?

>> Yep!

>> Fire as able.

>> Fire as able.

>> Firing!

(cannon fires) >> WIESE: Wow.

(cheering and applauding) >> Get you a little bit?

>> WIESE: Wow.

I'm king of the world!

>> NARRATOR: Heading north, we make a quick stop at the picturesque village of Quechee, Vermont, home of the famous Quechee Gorge.

Quechee is also the site of the longest-running balloon festival in New England: the Quechee Balloon Fest.

♪ ♪ From dawn until dusk, more than 100 vibrant hot air balloons are launched into the air, and then observed bobbing gently around in the sky.

(burner hissing) >> Release!

(ground crew responds) (crowd cheering) ♪ ♪ >> So we're located here in beautiful Quechee, Vermont.

As you can see from the backdrop, it's a beautiful area.

And we've been holding a balloon festival for 39 years.

This festival started as a fundraiser for the Hartford Area Chamber of Commerce, and it's been running ever since.

It's the longest-running, continuously, hot air balloon festival in New England, believe it or not.

>> NARRATOR: It gives you a sky-eye view of the sights, sounds, and smells of Vermont's breathtaking countryside.

♪ ♪ And even for those who prefer to stay grounded, and only observe the beauty up above, there a plenty of kid- and land-based activities to keep you occupied.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ But it's time to keep moving.

Next, we drive northeast, to rural Freedom, Maine, home of the Lost Kitchen.

♪ ♪ Chef Erin French's restaurant is so in demand that they had to implement a lottery system to manage the reservations.

Amy gets a rare behind-the-scenes look at why people go to such great lengths to eat here.

>> Freedom, Maine is pretty rural.

There are 719 people who live here.

It's quiet, we have one general store.

And that's about it.

The year that I found this space, I moved home, here, in 2013, back home to my parents.

(inhales) Tail between my legs.

And after a really painful time in my life, started to pick up the pieces again.

I had come into struggles with prescription medications for anti-anxiety and depression.

I had gone through a pretty rocky divorce and moved back in with my parents and found myself back home again in my 30s.

♪ ♪ >> TRAVERSO: I wonder, I'm sort of fascinated to know how you got this precious reservation.

Because I know it's not easy.

>> It is very hard to get a reservation... >> TRAVERSO: Yes.

>> And I was one of those people.

>> TRAVERSO: Do you live in Maine?

>> I'll let him answer that question.

>> We don't, we live in Nashville, Tennessee.

>> We have been open for four years now.

We've been booked every day since the beginning.

We seat 40 people a night, four days a week.

Why don't I open more days?

Why don't I do breakfast, lunch, and dinner?

Why don't we open another restaurant?

And we've had every opportunity to do all of those things, but when I take a step back, and I look at the way that I want to live my life, and the way that we as a staff want to live our lives, and that's not the way.

We never got in this to be big and be strong, and make a ton of money.

We got into this because we love food, we love where we live, and we want to love the lives that we're living.

♪ ♪ >> TRAVERSO: Watching people arrive tonight and get ready to go inside, and you've got your wine... Do you feel like you won the golden ticket, in a sense, that you got a reservation here this year?

>> A little bit, yeah.

>> TRAVERSO: What are you expecting for tonight?

What are you hoping for?

>> I think it's going to be fantastic.

>> Yeah.

>> You know, every review that I've read or seen, everybody raves about it.

And, you know, we have the cookbook, and so I'm familiar with the food, and it just, I'm really excited.

I'm not going to manage my expectations at all.

♪ ♪ (talking in background) >> I want people to feel like they are in a private space, that they're in a home and they're being cared for by a hostess.

Um...

I want them to spend four hours.

I want them to look back and go, "Where did all the time go?"

And, "That was so much fun, and everything was so delicious, "and the company was great, and the wine was good, and we laughed, and we dined, and wasn't that a great night?"

So, that's the way I want people to feel, like, have an experience like you've been in a home.

♪ ♪ (people talking in background) >> Welcome, I just wanted to pause for a moment to welcome you all, and thank you so much for coming out tonight.

For those of you I don't know really well already, I'm Erin French, and this is my restaurant and total dream come true.

And I'm really thrilled to share this meal with you tonight.

So I'm raising my glass to all of you.

>> Cheers.

>> Because nothing lasts forever, and I know this, and I'm holding on to this moment right now.

Thank you so much for coming out tonight.

Cheers to you all.

Cheers to Freedom, enjoy.

>> ALL: Cheers!

♪ ♪ (sizzling) >> TRAVERSO: So I am smelling incredible lamb smells coming from the kitchen.

We're at that moment where the main course is about to be served.

This is sort of the peak moment of the meal, but getting up to this point, how... What has the experience been like, and how's it been?

>> It's been absolutely amazing.

>> TRAVERSO: Really.

>> I mean, we went through about three or four courses, and then she started the main menu.

Literally, for an hour and a half eating.

And all of a sudden, she stood up, gave her speech, and she's, like, "Okay, here's the menu."

And it just... it blew my mind.

>> TRAVERSO: There's an element of, like, you're watching this production come together, and everything's choreographed, and the way the servers move, there's choreography to it.

>> And it even started before that.

>> TRAVERSO: Yeah.

>> You know, even just coming in, and it's, like, you're walking through the gift shop... >> TRAVERSO: Yes, yes.

>> To start off with, and then seeing the menu, and getting to pick your own wines-- I mean, from, from start to finish, this has been such a unique experience altogether.

>> TRAVERSO: Yeah.

♪ ♪ (people talking in background) >> TRAVERSO: So after watching everybody have this incredible meal tonight, I'm taking a minute to have a little meal of my own.

Wow.

Not only is the lamb perfect, but I think what brings people here is, it's really a transformational experience and it's a community experience.

And Erin herself has her hands on every element of the restaurant, from the plates, to the cooking, to the plating, to everything.

It's a really remarkable place.

>> I think I kept trying to find who I was supposed to be and what I was supposed to be doing in this world.

And later on in my life, when I kept coming back to food, I started putting myself and just putting my heart out there, and making food the way that I wanted to make it and not being afraid.

And that's where I sort of discovered what my kitchen would look like, and the way that I wanted it to feel when you came into it, and the food that I wanted to feed you when you were there.

But, you know, for me, it also has become the place where I found myself, strangely enough.

It's where I've discovered who I am, so I'm...

I was lost, and now I've, I've found it.

♪ ♪ >> NARRATOR: Provincetown, Massachusetts, is a scenic seaside village at the tip of Cape Cod.

(playing tune) ♪ ♪ Home to both artists and fishermen, it's actually here, not Plymouth, where the Pilgrims first landed in 1620.

We're visiting the 40 miles of pristine sand dunes and beaches known as the Cape Cod National Seashore.

To lead the way, Richard joins local expert Rob Costa from Art's Dune Tours, whose family has led guided trips to this beautiful seascape and its famous artists' cottages since 1946.

♪ ♪ >> WIESE: You know, it's funny, when I fly over Cape Cod, it's such a distinct arm of sand.

You know, I feel like I'm on the end of the Earth, and the maps all say, you know, "Don't go beyond here in the ocean."

>> I call it the Outback of Provincetown, because it's out there, it's 4,000 acres of sand dunes and beaches and forest land.

>> WIESE: This, to me, is magic-- oh!

♪ ♪ My gosh.

I mean, we're only about 100 yards off the main road, and it's already spectacular.

(shutter clicks) (car door closes) Beautiful.

♪ ♪ >> When the Pilgrims came here, this was all forest.

>> WIESE: Oh, this was forest, really?

>> Basically, this was all forest, yeah.

The early settlers, mainly Portuguese fishermen and the English settlers, they came to Provincetown to fish.

So what do you need to do?

Build up a fishing village with a lot of wood.

So they started coming out here and chopping trees down.

Once the trees were gone, the wind came along, blew the topsoil away.

Eventually, the sand was uncovered, and then the wind created these dunes from man's destruction of the forest.

>> WIESE: This is a national park, right?

>> Yeah, this is the Cape Cod National Seashore, which is a division of the national parks system.

The government had this open for a while for the public, but too many people were doing too much destruction over the years, so eventually, they just left it open for commercial-use dune tours and people who live out here in shacks.

Actually, there's one right up there.

You want to go take a look?

>> WIESE: Yeah!

>> Okay.

>> WIESE: Oh, my gosh.

So this is the little shack with the bazillion-dollar view.

>> So, Richard, this is one of the 19 shacks that are still remaining out here.

>> WIESE: I have to smile, because on occasion, I've stayed at some very, what would be considered fancy hotels or homes.

But the idea of staying in a shack, surrounded by these magical sand dunes, with the Atlantic Ocean on one side, and kind of a cool town just down the road-- doesn't get any better, five-star accommodations.

>> That's right.

And the government now leases these shacks to nonprofits.

There's three of them locally.

And they support artist-in-residency programs, so it opens it up for public access through the art world.

>> WIESE: So what-- who are some of the artists or writers I would have heard of?

>> Well, there's a huge list.

But Eugene O'Neill... >> WIESE: Of course.

>> Tennessee Williams... >> WIESE: Wow.

>> Jack Kerouac, Sinclair Lewis, Jackson Pollock, e.e.

cummings, Annie Dillard, the writer, Mary Oliver, the poet.

Norman Mailer has been out here before.

So I think the most common thing is, everyone finds it very serene and beautiful.

>> WIESE: For sure.

>> But everyone finds their own special way to appreciate this area out here, I think.

>> WIESE: So I'm assuming this is off the grid.

>> Yeah, there's no electricity, there's no running water.

They use propane gas for stove and refrigeration needs.

They use an outhouse for the toilet.

There's a wood stove in there-- it's like camping, but you got a nice little shack here.

>> WIESE: Hello, bonjour.

>> How are you?

>> Hi.

>> WIESE: So, what's it like to spend the night out here?

>> It slows you down, makes you think.

It makes you really appreciate what you have, more than ever, more than when you are in town.

>> WIESE: Yeah.

>> You know, I just want to listen to the wind, to the birds, to the waves.

I don't want any interference.

Otherwise, it's pretty pure out here.

You can catch those special moments.

>> WIESE: You know, they say that wealth is measured in many ways, and I think, right now, you're the richest woman I know.

>> And I know it, and I count my blessing every day.

>> WIESE: This is as magical a place as there can be on Earth.

>> Yeah, well, I have a lot more to show you.

>> WIESE: I'd love to see it.

>> You ready?

>> WIESE: Yeah.

>> Let's go.

>> That truck over there.

Smell those leaves.

(sniffs) ♪ ♪ (wind blowing) Now I'm going to take you down and show you the coastline.

♪ ♪ >> WIESE: You know, I'm sure people have asked you a thousand times, why are the dunes so magnificent and large here in Provincetown?

>> So this is a map of the Cape Cod National Seashore.

Half of it, anyway.

And up here is Provincetown, and that's our town line there.

And when the glacier formed Cape Cod tens of thousands of years ago, and the ice melted, you had the arm of Cape Cod, but it used to stop here.

And then 6,000 years later, all the glacial debris came up the coast and deposited all this sand, over 6,000 years in the making.

Provincetown was formed as a sand spit.

Erosional forces, ocean and wind, carrying up the sand, depositing the sand into the shape of Provincetown.

So hikers are allowed to drive through here.

>> Hello.

>> WIESE: Hello.

>> Even though people can't drive their own trucks through here, people are still allowed to hike through here, so often, we'll see hikers in the trail or crossing it.

It's pretty nice terrain to just hike through here.

♪ ♪ >> WIESE: Boy, driving on the beach is really a treat.

It's something I don't get to do very often, and this is certainly one of the prettiest beaches that you could find on the East Coast.

>> Yeah, this is certainly beautiful.

This is Race Point Beach, the... on the Atlantic Ocean side.

So look at this, we are just feet from the Atlantic Ocean.

>> WIESE: I know, and it's hard to imagine that these waves come right up to the dune during storms, but this is just a gorgeous day with just us and a bunch of seagulls, huh?

>> Yeah.

>> WIESE: I mean, the fact that we're driving right up to the water's edge is pretty darn cool.

>> Yeah.

>> WIESE: What a spectacular day.

>> Awesome.

>> WIESE: You know, this a view you never get tired of, and I just want to thank you.

This was more than a tour, this was an exclamation point to Cape Cod, Provincetown, the magical dunes that you took us around.

So I know the tour ends, but the memories last.

>> Yes, they do-- thank you so much.

>> WIESE: Thank you so much.

It's been a great tour.

>> Thank you.

>> Here we go.

>> Easy, peak.

>> Easy, peak.

That's too strong.

>> Hold, peak.

>> Hold, peak.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪