Takeaways:

• You should maybe be a little better about planning than I was.  While winging it is great a lot of the time, having NO plans sometimes means making more work for yourself in finding something to do (and potentially finding nothing).
• New Hampshire beer tour is basically non-existent.  Do your research on when the different breweries are open BEFORE you get there.
• Travel with a fun friend and you’ll always have fun (even if you are unprepared).
• Portsmouth has some pretty great food and drink establishments.  There’s also a statue you can pose in front of that will turn you into a tree witch. IE:

Technically our trip to New Hampshire started and finished our (my and Chelsea’s) drive through Maine and Vermont.  We had a lot of good food and good beer.  We had stopped in Portsmouth to wander the cute streets and window shop before stopping for dinner at Portsmouth Brewery. While dining we learned about the brew trail and were excited to make Portsmouth the first of a few breweries in New Hampshire.  Two days later we were disappointed to find the beer tour quite difficult to accomplish since we were there on a non-weekend.  We couldn’t find a single brewery near our dive to and from Vermont that was open, especially someplace that was a brewery vs. a bar.  So we visited only that first brewery on the brew trail (but twice).  I promise it was a valiant effort that involved lots of googling and phone calls by Chelsea while I drove us around the state in the general direction of Vermont.  Turns out if we want to get any more breweries knocked off the list, we will just have to return I guess.  Unfortunately this means New Hampshire was pretty much just Portsmouth, but that’s ok because Portsmouth is pretty fun. 

Our second night we arrived too late for window shopping, so we went straight to drinks at an Irish pub.  Here we came up with another exciting business opportunity (you haven’t read Maine or Vermont yet, so you will later find out this is something that happens often when Chelsea and I are driving long distances together) and laughed as a new friend (so new that they literally were JUST hopping into our photo) biffed it down  the stairs RIGHT as I was snapping the photo.  Man, I still chuckle a little when I
think of it.  (I’m sorry, it’s not funny, but it IS funny – he was totally ok afterward I promise).  Next stop included some more local beers while chatting with stranger-friends before heading home for the night. We closed down the bars, wandered the same streets home to end the trip as we started.  Sometimes things come full circle without you even meaning for it to happen.