Tag: New Hampshire

US Trip 23 September to 8 October, Day Thirteen: In Portland, Portsmouth & Kennebunkport, 5 October 2025

We played tennis again after breakfast. 6-4, 4-4 in Daisy’s favour. A nice young basketball player who was practicing her shooting encouraged us to “have a go” before we went home.

Possibly (above), certainly (below)

A little reluctantly, Daisy agreed to do some coastal touring this afternoon. In the end she was glad that she acquiesced, not least because that freed up our last two days for rest and relaxation at our apartment in Portland.

Just two stops for the excursion on Sunday – Portsmouth and Kennebunkport. First stop, Portsmouth.

We parked on the edge of the centre of town, in a lot where parking is free as long as you can find a spot. We found a spot. My guess that leaf-peeping would be more popular this weekend and that consequently the seaside towns would be “buzzy but not heaving” proved to be correct.

We took some light refreshment (iced coffee and bread) at an Italian bar/restaurant on market square, then wandered round a bit.

We were not overly taken with Portsmouth, which reminded us of many nice but unexceptional old towns at home, and we were not attracted to look at museums on such a warm sunny day.

On, then, to Kennebunkport. The drive into that town was more scenic than the drive to Portsmouth, as was the town itself. Small, compact and rather quaint.

Which of these supermodels (above & below) is Model A?

We enjoyed walking around for a while, taking in the vibe. Then we had ice cream because that’s what you do if you spend an afternoon in seaside towns. Janie had coffee and I had blueberry pie flavour.

Then home, reasonably early, to enjoy a relaxed evening with our wine, cheese, charcuterie and salad, procured from Wholefoods and Micucci on the preceding days.

If you’d like to see all the pictures from this day, try the Flickr link here or on the photo below:

US Trip 23 September to 8 October, Day Eleven: Leaf Peeping In New Hampshire On The Kancamagus Highway & Bretton Woods, 3 October 2025

Janie (Daisy) took hundreds of pictures and I took a few – a small sample are shown in this piece

After that cheesecake breakfast…

…we set off early for a day of leaf-peeping in New Hampshire.

Janie drove out to Conway, where we discovered (more or less as I expected) that the tourist information office was closed as it is staffed by Federal employees who were in shut-down.

No matter, as I had planned our route carefully anyway.

I took the wheel to drive the Kancamagus Pass to Lincoln. Janie took an infeasible number of pictures along the way, and some video (just 2’42”).

We stopped at Rocky Gorge and took a short walk around the gorge, going beyond the tourist-heavy area on the car park side of the bridge and finding some quieter spots where we could explore the gorge a little.

We encountered a wedding couple having their pictures taken. We discreetly left them alone, only to subsequently witness a bossy-boots cyclist women telling the couple and their photographer how to do it “her way”.

I continued the drive beyond Lincoln, starting the journey home “the long-way-round” by driving up into the foothills of Mount Washington to Bretton Woods.

This enabled us to see some different scenery and also enabled us to take a break at the Omni Mount Washington Resort, which was the scene of the 1944 Bretton Woods conference.

This felt, to me, a pilgrimage I needed to make. We wanted a light lunch, so we ordered just a couple of “appetisers”: calamari & fries. The portions were so darned enormous, I don’t think we ate much more than half of the food presented to us.

“Where do I begin?…”

The bar manager who served us was very helpful, and knew Portland well, so gave us some dining tips that served us well for the rest of our holiday.

Upstairs after dining, I hoped to see The Gold Room where the documents founding the International Monetary Fund were formally signed off. While searching for the room, a small man asked if he could help us, we explained our mission and he most certainly helped us as it turned out that he is the new General manager of the Omni Mount Washington.

“John & Henry have texted to say they have some documents for me to sign”

That was good fortune as we sensed that most people around there only had the vaguest idea about the site’s historic past.

The Ballroom where the conference took place
Yup, I’ll vote in favour of that…whatever it is…economics or something?

Janie did the longer drive home, via Wholefoods, where we had planned to stock up for a supper at home on Sunday, but after our bumper lunch and long day, we resolved to have a supper at home also that evening.

I had been keen to try the nova style of salmon, which I had read is subtly different from “Scottish” smoked salmon style and New York lox style. Wholefoods afforded us the opportunity to try some small packets of the various types of salmon, so we could have a private tasting of those things.

It actually proved to be a very pleasant and tasty way to end the day. And after all the fried food of calamari & chips, some smoked fish and salad seemed just the ticket.

If you are crazy enough to want to look at all 200 or so pictures from this day (at least one or two gallant readers have already done so pre-publication), you can click this Flickr link or the picture link below.