Portsmouth, NH

This past weekend I flew up to New Hampshire to visit with family and catch up a bit.  Its been a while since I was in the Seacoast area, this visit was a great reminder about how beautiful rural New England is in the off-season.  Living in a city, its easy to forget how to slow down and enjoy life a little, so this was the perfect reminder.  Most of Hampton was still shuttered, only the arcade and a few businesses were open- for rent signs hung off of many houses.  Only a handful of die-hard surfers were in the water, braving the 40 degree temperatures at Hampton and Rye. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera on Saturday and lost out on a whole lot of great photos, so I was sure to remember it on Sunday for a trip to Portsmouth.  I was surprised by the amount of people in the city square, sitting at cafes and soaking up the sun.  The city seems to have a great mix of restaurant for its size and an so-so selection of stores- GAP, Banana Republic, high-end housewares, and a couple independent clothing shops.  The buildings in the downtown were beautiful with great scale.  The Strawberry Banke area is the restored historical part of the city with some structures dating back to the 1600s.  All in all, Portsmouth seems like a nice place to settle down.

click to see a few more photos from the trip.