Vacation, Come Back, I Miss You Already!

As I mentioned before, Mark and I have not gone on a real vacation together since 2013 when we went to Portugal for his sister’s wedding (Sidebar: If you haven’t been to Portugal put it on your bucket list. I had never been out of the country except to England before (duh, British Hubby) but Portugal was amazing and the people were great to deal with and so nice!).

But we were heading to New Hampshire and Maine for this vacation. We had to board the dogs which sucked (they survived)! But I have to say it was gorgeous where we went this past week. I know the winters are horrible up there but their summers are incredible up there. But I suggest anyone who is looking for a new place to visit to put this area on your list too….

New Hampshire

Manchester

We flew into Manchester on Wednesday afternoon. Manchester was actually a pretty vibrant town. Nothing small town there. The airport is TINY but  I happen to like tiny airports (PHL take note…bigger is not better). We rented our car and headed off to Peterborough, where we were staying the first couple nights. It is about 40 miles away from Manchester but due to meandering thru some mountains on one lane roads…well it takes a while. Do not be in a hurry driving! Enjoy the views, we did!

Peterborough

We stayed at the MOST FABULOUS bed and breakfast on the planet. LOVE this place. Can’t recommend it enough. Breakfast was incredible, the views were great, the house was comfy, the owners are amazing. And it is so darn affordable. Paula and Rob (the owners are just so nice and easy to be around. Truly worth the trip. Peterborough is not huge but it is very cute and historic and with plenty of cute restaurants to eat at. We drove out to some small towns that were cute (one was bustling (Keene) one was not (Harrisville).

We also went to Parker and Sons a couple times for coffee. This coffee bar is situated right on the falls. See photo below. It was so cool to sip coffee and look at this.

Wilton

One evening we had eaten lunch later and weren’t really hungry so  I went to look up movies online. There was a movie theater (small) in Peterborough but they weren’t playing a movie we wanted to see. The major Multiplexes were an hour away. THEN I stumbled upon the quaintest movie theater I have ever been (Seriously click the link above re Wilton. The movie theater is in an old town hall built in the 1800’s. We watched Maudie (if you haven’t seen it yet, put it on your stream list, it was great) and while we waited for the movie to start, I took photos (No one was there but us at first, until right before it started then about 30 people streamed in). Mark got popcorn and a homemade lemonade, are you ready for the cost??? 3 bucks. LOL We were in awe. The seats weren’t fancy but the sound and screen was great and it was a great evening out. When we walked outside it took a few minutes for me to realize we were in 2017, not 1950 or so!

Portsmouth

On Friday, we said goodbye to our cute B & B and headed to Maine. We stopped in Portsmouth, NH on the way. The border of Maine was right after you leave Portsmouth but we stopped to eat in Portsmouth and the city is just adorable. I had no idea we were so close to Maine when we stopped. We would love to go back and explore Portsmouth more. It was a very cute river city with lots of fun things to do and parking was not too expensive at all (Unlike, ahem Portland, egads pricey!)!

Maine (Portland,  Southern Beach Towns)

We decided rather than doing the toll road, we would drive up the coastal way to Portland. So it took longer than we thought. Man, people in Maine LOVE their beaches. The places were mobbed. Really cute towns that looked like they were set in the 50’s and 60’s (think Where the Boys Are film) but very very busy.

But one single factor stood out in each town. MAN they love their lobster rolls. HA. EVERY restaurant had one! And when I say every one see below. MCDONALDS does one!! I had to take a photo (just so you know we went in to get a drink not to have lobster rolls and use the facilities. the place was so crammed we barely got out intact).

We saw it from $19.95 a sandwich to the $7.99 7-11 version (I kid you not). It got to be a road game for us pointing out ads for lobster rolls.

We got to Portland and checked into our hotel by the airport that costs more than my car payment. Yeah. The hotel turned out to be decent but seriously Portland was a zoo. It was First Friday and even more people were packed into the city. We got to catch up with my good friend Tori who moved there a few years ago with her family and got to tour some sites.

The fog that rolls into that city is amazing. It was 84 degrees on the promenade where we parked and we walked to the beach. it was 70 degrees down there (Like 400 feet is all). the fog was so thick I thought we were in a Stephen King novel! It was pretty cool though.

We also got a walk around the Cape Elizabeth lighthouse. Which would have been cooler if we could see (see above with the fog). The funny part was that Bobby (of the900facebookpony.com fame) was at the same park as me. I did not find him but I thought it was amusing we STILL have not met. Kind of like an odd game of Where’s Waldo but I dig it!

 

It was pretty cool to walk around and see all this history. We ended up meeting my friend and her family at the Farmer’s Market in Portland Saturday and then we headed back to Manchester. It was a good call cause the rain came in on Saturday afternoon and rained all day. We got some crazy lightning and thunder and rain during that day so safest place to be was the car! We got a hotel in Manchester and chilled and then woke up on Sunday and putzed around Manchester till we could fly out. We were at the airport early and read and just sat around till our flight left.

I was not ready to go back to work on Monday (I actually worked from home that day but first things first I was at the kennel at 715 am to pick my kids up). They were happy to be home. I am glad we went away but it is always good to get back home. So that is my long (ass) diatribe on how I spent my summer vacation. Hope it was not too boring!!

Remember to put New Hampshire on your list of vacation spots! And Maine too (just don’t go in August!). And now I need to do some work (Blog first, work second is my mantra)!