rizzo0904

I live in Nashua and I'm always looking for great places in our state that I haven't been to yet. So where do you love to go??

Pickity Place - love the quaint lunches here....hubby actually likes it too!

Hiking Lonesome Lake - great hike with a great reward at the end!

Santa's Village - such a great park for toddlers!! and the new water park section is awesome!

Lucia's Tavola in Brookline - new chef....delicious food!!

Beckonings - great little gift shop in downtown Nashua.

Parkers Maple Barn - yah I know, but I like it!

Please share!

dfrostnh

A friend took me kayaking on the Merrimack River last summer. We put in at the town park in Boscawen. Same place the rental company will take you. Absolutely wonderful yet she said there were prettier places. River was shallow so I felt safe. Many people enjoying "private" sandy beaches along the way. We chose one for a picnic lunch, watched the birds. Sometimes you can see bald eagles.

DH likes antique tractor events. The one I like best is Musterfield Farm's Old Time Farming Days in Sutton NH (near New London)

Auto road in Wilmot up Mt Kearsarge to Winslow State park (fee). Nice picnic area, great views, but haven't done the steep trail to the top.

Saigon Asian market in Manchester (also Nashua) on Sat/Sun when fresh food is brought in.

Warner NH's spring festival, great for little kids. Boscawen's Old Home Day parade and bouncy houses at the park. Andover NH's 4th of July parade. The kids learn to ride unicycles for phys ed and ride in parades.

League of NH Craftsmen's fair in August at Sunapee State Park. Annual Open Studio days in November.

The road from Rt 16 thru Tamworth and Center Sandwich for scenery. End up at Red Hill Dairy (might be Moultonborough) for lobster roll and onion rings.

Wine tastings, anywhere ... Flag Hill Winery, Lee; Butters in Concord NH; Meat House in Concord.

Homemade Ice Cream wherever.

Fiddlers Picnic, Canterbury NH (open to the public but very small attendance, held in August. Bring your own lawn chair) Life gets too busy but in the past we have also enjoyed free concerts Sunday evenings in Tilton NH. Bring your own picnic supper or buy hot dogs.

Summer jeep rides. Blueberrying. Garden Tours (great way to see other people's backyards). Garden swap and potluck lunch. Group camping weekends. Inn to inn cookie tours. Lupines in bloom. Boat rides out of Portsmouth NH. Drives out Rt 1B.

rizzo0904

dfrostnh - have you been to fulchino vineyards in hollis yet? great wines!!

I've never done the inn to inn cookie tour but it's on my list....i'll wait a few years until the boys are bigger so we can enjoy it as a family.

thanks for the tip on fiddlers picnic...i'll try and check that out this august.

i also love seabrook beach...clean and family friendly. gotta get a lobster roll at ceal's while you're over there.

fresh cider from lull farm in hollis.

Jaya

Canterbury Shaker Village - especially on a perfect summer day. Take your time there to see a few different buildings. They were an impressive group of people.

Peterborough Players - NY quality stage performances in the summer.

Downtown Portsmouth - eclectic, historic, easy to walk around and hard to get lost.

M/S Mt. Washington - about 3 hours on the "big' Lake. There are daytime and evening cruises.

bachslunch

Believe it or not, one can spend a very pleasant day in Manchester, NH. The Currier Museum is a fine small art museum that is well worth a 2-3 hour visit. The tour of the Zimmerman House (the only Frank Lloyd Wright house in New England open to the public), also done via this museum and lasting ca. 90 minutes, is first rate -- but you'll need to make reservations at least a week in advance, as the tour size is small and fills up quickly. There's also a pleasant enough historic museum, the Millyard Museum, which can keep one occupied for a good hour or so. And there are some places to eat and shops to explore in the downtown strip.

Portsmouth, NH is of course a great place to visit for fans of historic homes: Strawbery Banke is a must, and houses such as the Wentworth-Gardner, Moffatt-Ladd, Warner, and John Paul Jones are well worth seeing. The USS Albacore is a submarine one can do a self-guided walk-through tour of -- very nice. The downtown area is charming, full of shops, bars, coffee houses, and restaurants. One can spend a day or two here easily.

Also consider Exeter, NH, for a day's worth of exploring. There's the American Independence Museum, which consists of two historic houses that can be toured. Strolling the campus of Phillips Exeter to see the architecture is pleasant enough, and there's a tiny art museum to explore. The town's Historical Society is housed in a nice building nearby -- its collection isn't much, but do pick up a walking tour brochure of the town there, which hits many of the town's architectural highlights both on and off the Phillips Exeter campus. And the little downtown strip has some nice shops and eateries.

Jaya

I'll second the Currier Museum. It is worth the visit.

dfrostnh

rizzo, thanks for the tip on Fulchina vineyards. I used to go thru Hollis and loved smelling the apples at one orchard (can't remember which one but it was near Silver Lake).

A favorite afternoon drive when we're not busy is to make the rounds of one or more used bookstores. Particularly like the Book Depot in Henniker.

Yesterday a friend told me about a primitive gift shop near the quilt shop in Moultonboro. Channel 9 was doing stories about the antique shops in the seacoast area ... which is also a good area to check out some plant nurseries/garden centers.

Some year I will get to the sheep and wool festival on Mother's Day weekend at Hopkinton Fairgrounds. And haven't been to the Deerfield Fair in many years.

We have a DeLorme Atlas ang Gazetteer for NH (also VT and ME) that shows all the backroads, waterfalls, covered bridges, etc. The Sandwich Notch road is seasonal and not particulary scenic but if you know where to look, there's a waterfall and nice picnic spot just a short walk from the road.

There are lots of hiking/biking/horseback riding trails on federal govt land around the flood control dams in different towns. Some are publicized like Elmbrook Park in Hopkinton and has a maintained swimming area. Others are just known to the locals. Lots of towns also have hiking trails on conservation property. Again, not well publicized. I was amazed at the number of hiking trails in and around Concord but I'm not a hiker. DS used to mountain bike when he was a teen and knew some great places.

We recently attended the story telling event in Concord but events were held in different locations all over the place as part of the story telling guilds' Tale-abration. They asked for a $10 donation but the money was going to a worthy cause. Most of those attending were adults. If you can ever hear Odds Bodkin, he is great. We first heard him about 25 years ago. Also saw Recycled Percussion before they got famous.

Hippo Press does a great job listing things to do.

tovarich

What about the white mountains,Kancamagus highway.Drive up Mount Washington,Jackson....Paul

Kealalani

You could get an "I burnt out my brakes on Mt Wash' bumpersticker!

Jaya

Hippo Press (weekly, find it at most grocery stores for free) and NH Magazine (monthly, buy it at Barnes and Noble or go to NHmagazine.com).

Between the two you can find just about anything going on in NH.

NH Magazine covers the whole state, Hippo is more central and southern NH.

dfrostnh

Good point, Jaya. Some of the most interesting events are poorly advertised. I find out about them by reading the community news in the Sunday Concord Monitor. The fiddlers picnic is an example which probably explains why it's a very small event.

This past summer we spent a long weekend in the White Mountains. DH claimed he had never been to the Flume. We drove the Kanc over to Conway then south on rt 16 and back thru Tamworth and Center Sandwich to Thornton. Zip lining has gotten very popular. Friends went rock climbing some place while us older folk did a tame walk thru the Flume. There are some tourist attractions we went to umpty-ump years ago and haven't visited again. Other friends like to go kayaking late on Sunday afternoons because that's when their favorite small lake is the quietest.

Some of the fairgrounds have something going on every weekend. It might be a semi-public car rally one weekend, a well publicized event the next (like the Sheep and Wool Festival). Last summer we attended a John Deere Expo at the fairground in New Boston. There are also antique steam engine and/or tractor events around the state but you really have to like old equipment. If you explore a museum or town website, sometimes you can find events that aren't well publicized which is great because then they aren't crowded. Musterfield Farm is a good example. We've been to a civil war encampment there that was fascinating. Shaker Village in Canterbury has something special going on most weekends during the summer. Sometimes organizations have events that the public can attend. For several years we used to volunteer at a sled dog race that used to be held in Sandwich. We found it more fun to be volunteers than spectators.

I've envied people in the Hollis area for the events that go on at Beaver Brook. I went there a couple of times years ago for a gardening event.

TerrMys

Some of my favorites:

-Route 113 between Holderness and Center Sandwich (one of the prettiest villages in NH), especially in the fall

-Off the same route, two great hikes: the very short and easy hike up Rattlesnake Mtn. with an incredibly rewarding view of Squam Lake, and the longer intermediate Mt. Morgan - Mt. Percival loop, which is very fun (if you take the cave trail down) and also provides unparalleled views of the Lakes Region.

-Pristine Newfound Lake; the beach at Wellington State Park is one of the best in the state. Also worth a stop is the picturesque village center of Hebron, Groton's Sculptured Rocks, and, if you're hungry, one of the restaurants in Bristol's nice little downtown.

-Also in Bristol, the remarkably tranquil walk to Inspiration Point from the Slim Baker Lodge at the top of New Chester Mountain Rd. Enjoy the inspiring view and then drive along Old Bristol Road to New Hampton's idyllic main street.

-The sleepy town of Cornish, notable for two things: the Saint-Gaudens estate and several covered bridges. The best is the Cornish-Windsor bridge across the Connecticut River to Vermont, the longest covered bridge in the US and the longest two-lane covered bridge in the world.

-Near Keene, the very peaceful, frozen-in-time hamlet of Harrisville, and the slightly larger and equally well-preserved Hancock, whose main street is lined with an array of attractive colonial and federal homes.

-Most of Route 123 through the Monadnock Region

-Portsmouth and everything about it. Also, the ferry ride to the Isles of Shoals. Go on a sunny day and feel like you're travelling to a different world.

-Route 107 (The Old Province Road) between Northwood and Gilmanton, a very pleasant winding route between the Seacoast region and the Lakes Region

-The eastern side of Lake Winnipesaukee: Alton, Wolfeboro, Tuftonboro, and Moultonborough. The Castle in the Clouds is a must-do, if only for the view of Winni. The best view of the lake is actually from Mt. Major in Alton, but it's always crowded during summer and foliage season.

-In North Conway: Echo Lake and Cathedral Ledge in the fall, when entrance is free and the colors are stunning.

-Crawford Notch, especially the heavily-traveled but highly rewarding hikes to Arethusa Falls (NH's most beautiful waterfall) and the viewpoint on Mt. Willard.

-Franconia Notch, period.

-Lovely Sugar Hill, which is of course at its best during the Lupine Festival in June.

-The view from Weeks State Park on Mt. Prospect in Lancaster.

TerrMys

Oh, and let's not forget the incredible views from the summit of Mt. Washington!

Jaya

The Conway Railroad is having train rides with Santa (OP mentioned toddlers). Check their website.

Take the little ones to McIntyre Ski Area in Manchester (yes, there's skiing in Manchester!). It's a great place for beginner and intermediate skiing lessons. It's small enough to be very manageable for the parents and kids - no walking for miles from the parking lot to the ski slope. Plus, it's only about 20-25 minutes from Nashua.

Pat's Peak in Henniker is good too, but it's about 45 minutes from Nashua.

zootsi

Where to start! I live in the upper valley area, so I'm a bit biased to it. Here are some of my favorites:

Hanover - A beautiful college town with some great place to eat, like Yama (Korean), Molly's, Canoe Club. Dartmouth's Hood museum is a great place to spend a rainy afternoon.

Biking the River road which follows the Connecticut River from Hanover to Orford is very scenic and safe outing.

Skiing at Whaleback or Dartmouth Skiway. Both of these fun mountains still have a neighborhood feel, and often no lift lines.

Dining at Three Tomatoes on the Green in Lebanon.

Mountain View Winery just outside of Walpole is one of the most scenic spots anywhere. The views are breathtaking, and the wines are quite good. Walpole is a charming little town.

Driving the Kancamangus - Yes it gets touristy in October, but it is a fabulous drive, with plenty of hiking opportunities.

The Cornish Fair - This country fair is the real deal - horse pulls, antique tractors, midway, livestock shows, live music, etc.

A summer afternoon concert at St. Gaudens. What a great way to relax on a warm Sunday afternoon.

So many scenic little towns, like Sugar Hill, New London, Jackson, Lyme, etc.

Snowshoeing in the deep woods after a snowstorm. We live on a small farm, and are lucky to be able to do this from our back door.

Having a beer and dancing to some great live music at Salt Hill Pub on the Lebanon Green.

mazj

Well, I'm not from New Hampshire (more like the other side of the world) but I wholeheartedly second this response:

"-Near Keene, the very peaceful, frozen-in-time hamlet of Harrisville, and the slightly larger and equally well-preserved Hancock, whose main street is lined with an array of attractive colonial and federal homes."

We loved driving through this part of the world and could add that the hospitality at the Little River B and B in Peterborough is very special.

dfrostnh

How could I forget about this thread! I've already posted, probably in the lounge, about the wonderful free events in nearby towns just before Christmas. In Hopkinton we took a wonderful horse-drawn carriage ride thru Gould Hill Apple Orchards then went inside where the children made a free craft and got some free hot chocolate. I noticed a sign that the orchard would be available for club members and nordic ski teams.

I don't think the ice is quite safe enough yet for bob houses but as soon as it is, the lakes will sprout little fishing communities. Some towns set up an ice rink. Thanks to all our hills and dales, there are lots of places to go sledding.

A friend is going camping this weekend. He tells that it's not very crowded in January. lol

gailw

Pancakes at Polly's Pancake Parlor in Sugar Hill (open Memorial Day to Columbus Day, I think)
Lobster rolls at the Blackwater Diner in Potter Place
Elegant and not very pricy dinners at The Old Courthouse in Newport

rizzo0904

dfrost...that sounds wonderful!! i'll have to be on the lookout for that next winter and take the boys.

gailw - polly's is yummy! my 2 year old finished all 6 pancakes!

dfrostnh

rizzo,it was held in conjunction with the Starry Starry Weekend for Hopkinton and Contoocook. Read that the gingerbread house building class sold out. We only had the morning to visit around. Odds Bodkin, the story teller, told stories Friday night but we weren't able to attend that. I must have been standing room only.