Hampton Beach, NH

We had no clue that there were beachside boardwalks – complete with Fried Dough – in New Hampshire. Apparently, there are a few of these places dotting the Northeastern Coastline.

And now we know.

We snagged a coveted, full-hookup campsite at Hampton Beach State Park for a week and were pretty stoked about it. We grew even more excited when we realized we could not only walk to the beach – which was less than 200 meters away – but could also walk to the boardwalk in the town of Hampton Beach – less than a 1/2 mile away.

Fried Dough for every meal, baby!

Except they call it FryDoe here? Whatever – still delicious.

We thoroughly enjoyed the sort of sketchy, highly touristy, overpriced hand food vibe of Hampton Beach. It’s a grungy beach town and we were here for it.

There was one major drawback of Hampton Beach State Park – and living there for what would turn into 11 days: no animals allowed. We had to conceal Lucy girl, making sure to keep our sunshade over the front dash window where she likes to flaunt her beauty.

We spent many mornings running up the boardwalk, past the hustle and bustle of scantily clad beach goers, and into a section of the coastline dotted with surfers, rockier coast, and houses most of us could only dream of ever affording. One loop took us past an old (and for sale!) horse racing farm, where Derby winners once trained and resided.

This area of the country is just beautiful. So many pockets of beauty cooking up good views for your eyeballs to feast upon.

On Wednesday evenings the town of Hampton Beach puts on a 15 minute fireworks show that we enjoyed from our patio. Every other evening, vacationers put on their own fireworks, which were less impressive and sometimes bordered on obnoxious. One Thursday morning an inflatable park was set up in our front lawn. I was tempted to quit my job and go spend the day jumping…

We enjoyed several evenings of lobster rolls at the Beach Plum, an ice cream/seafood shack a bit past the Hampton Beach strip.

We were treated to the antics of the Piping Plover, an endangered bird creature that nests in dunes of Hampton Beach State Park. They hide their baby plovers under their wings and flit about.

Seagulls, as expected, were present also. I love a good tourist town gull.

Seals played in the channel that bordered the RV park, swimming up to the lift bridge which provided further entertainment as it was lifted frequently for fishing and touring boats to pass beneath.

We enjoyed Hampton Beach Sate Park so much that when we were able to snag last minutes reservations for another weekend we decided to stay put. Our friend Jeffy popped in for a visit over that weekend and he was also a bit shocked at the Jersey shore vibes of the area (who knew? Maybe we should have warned him…)

Our friend Holly, formerly of Denver and now of Portland, ME, joined us for a beach day on Saturday. We basked in beer, donuts, and sunshine all day, then topped it off with slices of boardwalk pizza.

Our final Sunday in Hampton was a bit rainy, so we swapped the beach for breakfast at the Green Room (delightful) and an afternoon spent hopping from Smuttynose Brewing to Throwback Brewery. We capped our day off with a final lobster roll from the Beach Plum, then headed back to Dyna to enjoy a final night at Hampton Beach State Park with the Olympics on the television.

Before Jeffy arrived, we popped into Portsmouth for an evening, taking a brief walk through town. There is a really cool bridge there. We really should have spent a bit more time there, as it seemed lovely and quaint.

We did also try seafood at a few places other than the Beach Plum, but didn’t have much success other than spending too much money on tasteless food. If you’re ever in the Hampton Beach area, we don’t recommend Brown’s or Petey’s, but are open to other suggestions.

State Park