We were away for a few days doing out annual pilgrimage to the Coast of Maine.  Actually, we spent more time this year on the "coast of New Hampshire," exploring the beaches and communities in and around Rye and Hampton. 

Many years ago, we had breakfast at a place called "The Golden Egg," just outside of Portsmouth, and ever since, we've talked about going there again.  Last year we finally located it, but there was a sign on the door saying they were closed due to a power failure.  We ended up at a great place on the beach in Rye called "Petey's," and decided that, too, was worth another visit.  So when we headed to Portsmouth from our hotel in York, we had a plan:  if "The Golden Egg" didn't look promising or wasn't open, we'd just go on to "Petey's."   

We had a great lunch at "The Golden Egg" and then decided to take another look at the beach communities we'd only driven through last year.  We spotted a Great Blue Heron fishing in the marshes, and watched loons riding the swells off Rye Beach.  Later we stopped to watch some surfers, and took some pictures.  We didn't realize until we unloaded the photos when we got home that one of the surfers was, unexpectedly, a middle-aged, balding, man.  We walked on the beach and enjoyed seeing the front side of the lovely homes along the shore.  I've put together a short slide show of some of pictures we took.  We went to Dover, NH, to visit my cousin and we were impressed with the foliage, but it doesn't show up as vividly in the pictures.  Then at Rye and Hampton beaches, some of our favorite places in York and the Nubble at Sohier Park.  We had lunch in Laconia with Fred's brother, Tom, and Ellie, and took the scenic route (where we didn't take any pictures!) from Laconia through the lake region past Squam Lakes, then home through the White Mountains where we could see snow squalls looming ahead.  However, as we progressed through the Cannon Mountain and Franconia Notch area, we found only light rain, and an occasional snowflake, but nothing was sticking - until we got to West Danville and Joe's Pond, then we began to see a little  snow along the roadsides and in protected spots on lawns.  This morning we awoke to snow on the few leaves left and on tree branches.  We didn't mind because we had such nice weather while we were away.