Our First Anniversary Trip: Portsmouth, New Hampshire

After Ryan and I got married last November, we visited Newport, Rhode Island for a mini-honeymoon. We quickly fell in love with the New England area and vowed to visit other towns and cities close by. Knowing our one-year anniversary was around the corner, we started brainstorming locations and decided to go with Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Our "must have" list included a drive less than five hours to somewhere in the Northeast region, included clam chowder, a harbor town, and walkable shops. Needless to say, Portsmouth checked off all of the points. Here's a quick recap of our weekend!

Thursday:
I didn't have school Thursday or Friday due to Teachers' Convention, so we left around 8am and arrived by lunch time. We decided to go to the River House Restaurant, which featured views of the harbor and a cozy atmosphere. Lucky for us, it was Restaurant Week in Portsmouth, so we made sure to take advantage of the opportunity. And even luckier for me, I was so, so pleased to see so many of the restaurants accommodating with a gluten-free menu. I've been GF for about six months and was very thankful for the availability at bars, restaurants, and breakfast cafes. Post lunch, we walked around the shops and got used to the area for a few hours. Later, we checked into the Sheraton, which was barely a quarter mile away from the downtown area and got ready for dinner. 

Thursday's dinner, which was likely my peak of the trip, was at The Oar House. If you're ever in the area, GO THERE. It had low, wood beams from the ceiling, weathered wooden floors and cozy nooks. We enjoyed a fair share of mussels, scallops, and a bottle of red wine. 

Friday:
Portsmouth is only a few minutes away from Maine, so we figured we would stop in for a few hours. We headed to Lil's Cafe for breakfast, where I got GF toast with avocado and Ryan got a sausage and egg sandwich on a biscuit. 

After breakfast, we drove around and visited a historical state park, which was a battleground site, as well as a lighthouse.

We worked up an appetite and decided to stop for a light lunch at Surf. Here, we split clam chowder and a spicy tuna sushi roll while enjoying a cocktail. 

After our quick bite to eat, we devoted a few hours to walking around the shops. We got some Christmas shopping done (already, woohoo!) and enjoyed our time together. 

Before heading back to the hotel to relax for a bit, Ryan was dying to get some oysters at Row 34. I'm always down for a glass of wine and snack, so it didn't take much arm-twisting to get me here!

Dinner on Friday night was at The Dolphin Striker, another local, cozy spot. We enjoyed dishes from the featured Restaurant Week menu.

Saturday:
Before heading home on Saturday, we stopped at Popovers On The Square for a grab-and-go breakfast. This place was AWESOME and the perfect final meal for our trip. We began our (long, traffic-filled) journey home to NJ and reminisced on the solid weekend. 

Thanks so much for reading!