visiting seacoast in the summer

[maestramommy]

Originally Posted by wharf

I was racking my brains about the boardwalk part of your query, as I vaguely remembered a nature hike on a boardwalk. It is at Seabrook Station ( the nuke plant ). They have a Science & Nature Center with the Owasoag Nature Trail. It has a mile long boardwalk that goes thru marshes & dunes, if I remember correctly. Don't know if it's still there, as I haven't been there in over 15 years. After the hike , you can go to Browns for lunch .

As in Browns Chicken?? Now there's a blast from the past!

Thanks for the tip. A mile long boardwalk sounds perfect!

[steveusaf]

Originally Posted by lisa g

Thanks Val. That's what I was afraid of.

I have a rental opportunity which meets my criteria but it's in Kittery Point, Seapoint beach area. Wondering if that is a good base of operations to see Portsmouth, Isles of Shoals, Newcastle and hopefully less crowded areas? It seems like it would be.

Seapoint is my favorite beach on earth. Undeveloped, uncrowded, just a perfect crescent piece of heaven. A great place to take your dog (before 10 and after 5 during the summer season). It's probably a lot less crowded since only Kittery residents can park there now (during the summer). They changed that last year, much to my disliking. If you rent on that road to Seapoint, you can easily walk there, so the parking won't matter.

It's about a 15-20 minute drive to Portsmouth, either through Rt 1 by the outlet malls (bound to be crowded and slower in summer) or Rt 103 which brings you into Kittery downtown area and right into downtown Portsmouth.

Heck, if I had rental property on that road, I'd probably never leave Seapoint. If I ever won the lottery, I'd buy a house on that road. And I'd even put up with that crazy Maine income tax to live in that spot.

I may be biased towards Seapoint, but I grew up in Kittery and have a lot of good memories at that beach. Have fun....

[steveusaf]

Originally Posted by threenineteen

The majority of the unfavorable people who go to Hampton and Salisbury Beaches are from the Haverhill/Lawrence/Methuen/Lowell area. I have lived in Salisbury all of my life and when I rarely go to Hampton Beach, I never see anyone I know. Most of the people around here try to avoid the beaches especially during the summer. I am much more likely to see people I know in Newburyport than I am in Salisbury or Hampton Beach. Comparing Salisbury to places like Saugus, Revere and Lynn is like comparing Concord, NH to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York.

Haverhill/Lawrence/Methuen/Lowell area? Yeah, that makes sense also. I knew as soon as I mentioned particular areas of Mass that someone would probably not be too happy. Now someone will probably be upset that we mentioned Lowell, etc. I probably shouldn't have gotten so specific about towns, but just said "many towns within the 495 corridor". My apologies to anyone I lumped into the generalization....

[wharf]

Originally Posted by maestramommy

As in Browns Chicken?? Now there's a blast from the past!

Thanks for the tip. A mile long boardwalk sounds perfect!

Sorry, no , it's Browns Lobster Pound in Seabrook on 286. Brown's Seabrook Lobster Pound

[Valerie C]

Browns Went a couple of weeks ago (the COLD Sunday!! It was FREEZING!!!) and Browns hasn't changed a bit. We hadn't planned on going, so brought no other provisions. The tables next to us planned well though. They brought tablecloths, candles, wine, bags of chips/kid snacks and about 12 people. Can still BYOB there (beer and wine only). Scallop/Clam plates are still great

Originally Posted by wharf

Sorry, no , it's Browns Lobster Pound in Seabrook on 286. Brown's Seabrook Lobster Pound

[Valerie C]

Somebody's always going to be insulted or whatever when their town is mentioned in that way. For my part, I'm sad when I see Haverhill lumped in with Lawrence, etc. but it is what it is...

Originally Posted by steveusaf

Haverhill/Lawrence/Methuen/Lowell area? Yeah, that makes sense also. I knew as soon as I mentioned particular areas of Mass that someone would probably not be too happy. Now someone will probably be upset that we mentioned Lowell, etc. I probably shouldn't have gotten so specific about towns, but just said "many towns within the 495 corridor". My apologies to anyone I lumped into the generalization....

[maestramommy]

Originally Posted by wharf

Sorry, no , it's Browns Lobster Pound in Seabrook on 286. Brown's Seabrook Lobster Pound

Mmmmm, slurp! Even better!

[maxxoccupancy]

Originally Posted by maestramommy

Mmmmm, slurp! Even better!

Seabrook is a great town to live in. I bought a house here a year ago because it's a great place to live. The food places are awesome, too.

[notdancingqueen]

Originally Posted by lisa g

Thanks Val. That's what I was afraid of.

I have a rental opportunity which meets my criteria but it's in Kittery Point, Seapoint beach area. Wondering if that is a good base of operations to see Portsmouth, Isles of Shoals, Newcastle and hopefully less crowded areas? It seems like it would be.

Lisa, we've had good luck in the past with vrbo.com (vrbo dot com, in case C- D doesn't like the link itself...) and the S ME area...wells, ogunquit (though O is $$) and the yorks and kittery area. Not tacky-touristy, but things to do for families - the usual outdoorsy stuff - parks, walking.hiking trails, some cute shops, outlets, nice NE towns, etc.

Nubble Light as Val suggested is fabulous - we took our kids there last Fall on Val's recommendation and had a wonderful time - lots of rocks to climb on and gorgeous rocky coast scenery.

We enjoyed a drive up the Maine coast as well...toward Kennebunk, etc.

If you do go to Wells, hit the Maine Diner on Rt. 1 -- fabulous diner food - family run for years and years, everything made from scratch. Not at all pricey, except you'll pay for the lobster pie -- but it is worth *every* penny imho!

Have fun - NDQ

[WannaComeHome]

NDQ: there was a restaraunt/diner on Rt 1 I took some friends to way long years ago... Captain ??? it was great!!! They had lobster stuff (we got very silly with the lobster tail and Chief Larry the Dancing Lobster as I recall). I still remember it, gotta be around 20 years, so it must have been really good.