New Hampshire

We cheated a little bit in New Hampshire and on the way from Boston, Mass to Portland, Maine you drive through a corner of NH. So we got a little sample of New Hampshire kind of out of order and pre-maine so to say. Our first taste of the granite state began with the city of Portsmouth which is kinda a fun place to stop. The little town is full of wall murals and cute hometown restaurants. We HAD to stop at the quirky little breakfast joint called the Friendly Toast. (highly recommended by the lovely Ciara Noble)

This little shop is so cute and full of unique decor and funky art. The staff is really friendly (go figure) and quirky. The menu is full of interesting options and many focus on classics dishes with a famous twist. They base a lot of their dishes off of celebrity favorite breakfast choices or music puns.

Daniel chose the breakfast ramen. Which was perfect for him, because it was a combination of his two favorite things: BREAKFAST and RAMEN. I selected the Hot Cakes which was an Elvis favorite. It was a HUGE stack of chocolate chip pancakes wrapped in bacon and whip cream. The King had great taste! We were not disappointed. Friendly Toast was a great stop!

After we ate our delicious breakfast we made our way to Maine. Feel free to read our Maine post for all those details. After spending the night there we headed back into NH for round two. This second time was a bit less magical. It was raining and foggy so it was very hard to appreciate the beauty around us. We headed to Berlin, New Hampshire which is a cute town on the river. A lot of people wear cowboy hats and you get a nice hometown atmosphere. There is a huge smoke stack and a lot of building on the river. Originally, the town used the falls for power and generated business through the powerful water current. After a bit of exploring we had to try the French dish that is very popular in Northern states and near Canada: POUTINE. 

Poutine is basically just french fries covered in gravy and cheese. I know the ultimate comfort food right? Just think mashed potatoes and gravy, but better! There are a lot of different ways to cook it I guess, but basically it seems to come down to the gravy. Whichever style you prefer you can find it up here! We found a place with a darker gravy and provolone cheese. 

From Berlin, we headed down to Woodstock and drove through the beautiful White Mountain National Forest. The weather finally started to clear so we were able to capture the timelapse posted below. Pretty area.

Upon arriving in Woodstock we were pretty exhausted from a day of driving and our early morning Acadia hike. We hit the two week on the road marker and decided we should do something a little special. I searched on Air BnB real quick and found a super cute (and reallllly cheap) log cabin tiny home that was really close. We decided to book it for the night. It had a hot tub with a really nice view of the mountains and real stove to cook on. We love our little camper van, but sometimes it feels really nice to sleep in a real bed and cuddle on a couch. The cabin was very cute, complete with a fire place, and checkered print curtains with bear pillows. So precious.

This was a very relaxing evening and it was incredible star gazing from the hot tub. We enjoyed our coffee on the porch with a lovely mountain view. This was the perfect place to soak in New Hampshire. We didn’t have to do any crazy hike, or wild adventure to experience the beauty of the White Mountain National Forest. It was a much needed break with a little rest and relaxation. Feeling very refreshed, and pleased that the weather was much nicer we hit the road Vermont bound! 

That pretty much sums up our experience in the land of the Purple Lilac. Until next time, Cheers! 

God Bless, McKayla