Back to the Coast

New Hampshire – Sunday, October 14

Today it was time to head for the little bit of Atlantic coast that New Hampshire has. I got packed up after staying put in the same place for 2 nights in Nashua, then I headed slightly northeast. Our first walk was in Derry, and first we got in about 3 miles – walking both around town and into adjoining neighborhoods. (I smelled someone cooking bacon! Smelled good on a Sunday morning!) Then I stopped at the house that Poet Robert Frost lived in for about 12 years – and the place where he composed many of his poems. The house was closed for the season, but I did the short half mile walk around the property and I to the woods. It was theoretically a poetry nature walk and there were about 20 markers, but with no brochure or any info, I wasn’t sure what that was all about. I thought there would be a verse here and there along the trail! I figured it was a fitting place to wander around – Robert Frost’s words “miles to go before I sleep” kind of apply to me too!

Then I was close to a place that calls itself America’s Stonehenge, but it seemed a little commercial, especially being close to Halloween they’re playing up the paranormal aspect. But they say that carbon dating the rocks has made this an ancient site of solar and lunar rock placements. Hmmmm….

Then, the ocean! I figured I would stop at Hampton Beach State Park first, and it pretty much encompassed the whole beach area in town. There was a nice long “promenade” sort of walkway along the whole beachfront. Again, this late in the season it was relatively quiet, although quite a few people were out walking. There were dozens and dozens of motels lined up across the street from the beach – most of them with the short side facing the beach and the long side facing each other – kind of stacked like that for a mile. And then there were dozens of little shops, eating places etc. – most of which were closed. It’s hard to imagine the in-season crowds! It was a very pretty, big beach though. Dogs were not allowed down on the sand, which I totally understand. But then I was bewildered to see people riding horses along the water – they make a lot more mess (although it looked really fun!). I asked a State Park worker why horses were allowed and not dogs and at first she had no idea – but then she told me there are 2 reasons dogs are not allowed – the first one is they chase the birds, and the second one is since dogs eat beef and beef by-products, there is a possibility of E. Coli in their poop. And then she was puzzled because she thought horses also ate beef (they don’t) and we figured that was the reason horses could be on the beach and not dogs! We got a good 2 1/2 miles of walking in there. I was just following the coast road north to Portsmouth, and then I came across a beautiful sea trail with flowering shrubs, some of those little manicured trees and mansions across the street – it was called the Little Boar Ocean Walk or something like that – lots of people out enjoying that too. And then we finished off the walking (and did extra) on the prettiest beach I’ve been on yet. The tide was out and the beach expanse was huge, and it was all sandy, and there was so much room that lots of dogs were off-leash – enjoying the time as much as their humans (this was a public beach, not a state park beach) – Tula enjoyed romping around.

I had made a reservation tonight; being budget minded with money running out at the end of the week due to no camping, I wanted to make sure I got the place I wanted, and in the end I probably could have camped because it had warmed up a bit unexpectedly. But I didn’t drive by any open campgrounds anyway. I am kind of sad I didn’t get to camp in New Hampshire because I’ve camped in every other state so far. The motel was right by a big grocery store, and today was military donation today. In the morning I had sent my info to get an address – the unit this time is a medical army unit in Afghanistan, and the female soldier making the request said they’re a health-conscious group and she was asking for tuna packets, nuts and seeds and salty snacks, individual powdered drink mix tubes to pour into water bottles, herbal tea and gum, and maybe a sweet! So I got all of that, and some jerky, microwave popcorn and trail mix. I got the customs forms filled out and will mail it tomorrow.

This is my last night in New Hampshire, and at the end of the day, I have $56.58 left for tomorrow in this week’s budget – enough for my donation, and 58 cents left! Cutting it a little close this week! (It’s a good thing I have quite a few food staples on hand! Peanut butter to the rescue! And my dad is covering some breakfast expenses to get the days off to a good start, so tomorrow morning will be one of those days!)