A Beautiful Day

 Happy Friday everyone. 

It's back to a day of chilly temperatures here in New Hampshire, but this past Wednesday was a glorious spring day. Low tide at the beach was in the morning, so I met my friend for a walk first thing in the day. She had to head out after our walk to babysit her grandchildren, but I had no place to be. The sun was bright, and there wasn't much wind, so I took a little drive. First I went for a short drive south down the coast, and then  I turned around and took a detour  east onto Great Island where the town of Newcastle, New Hampshire is located.

Thought I would take a break from posting  art  and show you a few photos from my drive.

My first stop was at a small state park that looks onto Rye Harbor and has a small beach.  At this time of year there aren't many people around, and the parking lots are open without charging fees.

You can see there was only 1 or 2 boats out on moorings. In the summer this harbor is filled with boats. The next photo shows the channel that leads into the harbor.

Six miles offshore are a small chain of islands called the Isles of Shoals. I've shown you photos when we've boated out there. The islands that are in New Hampshire (because some are in the state of Maine) are part of the town of Rye where this park and one of the beaches I like to walk are located. At this same little state park you can get a clear view of these islands. 

There is also a monument that talked about these islands.

I knew the islands were discovered by Captain John Smith, the same Captain John Smith who helped settled Jamestown in Virginia (the US's first permanent English settlement) and who is part of the Pocahontas story. He named these islands Smith's Isles, but that name didn't stick with time. (Although no one knows exactly why they are called the Isles of Shoals. Perhaps because of all the fish that shoaled near them.)

Captain John Smith's second voyage from England went from Maine south to Cape Cod. What I didn't know is that he is the one who coined the term New England. That name did stick and is now used to describe the 6 states (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island) in the very northeast of the US.

The grass in the next photo (Phragmites or common weed) is an invasive species that grows everywhere along the coast and displaces local plants. And it is so tall too. You can't even see the beach beyond it.

South of the state park are a couple of other state beaches with parking. There are some private beaches too. The beaches themselves are not private, as state law says no can own the beach itself, but without parking the only way to get there would be to walk, so that makes them more or less private.

By this point the tide was coming in so I turned around, headed back north and decided to follow one of the side roads that follows the coast.

I stopped and took this next photo because across the harbor, on the right, is the beach where we often anchor our boat and relax. I know I've posted a lot of photos of that spot in the past. The line on the horizon of this photo is the jetty that I've also shown you many times and that I shared a few weeks back when I walked at Odiorne State Park. It's the one that someday I am going to walk out onto.

If that means nothing to you, it is a nice view.

I had driven into  a small parking area for the scenic view to take this last photo.  Just beyond that parking area is this golf course and some very expensive homes on the golf course. This sign made me laugh. I am sure they needed to put it up because at least one person complained when a golf ball came flying in their direction.

My last stop for the morning was in New Castle, New Hampshire. New Castle is one of the oldest towns in my state and is the only one that is completely on an island. 

This town has a wonderful large park called Great Island Common. I wasn't sure if they were charging for parking yet, but they weren't, so I drove in and took a little walk here. It didn't make the dogs happy though, because this time they got left in the car when I went to check out the views. 

The scenery was beautiful.

I'll finish my post with this fun photo frame that was in the park.

Hope you have a great start to your weekend.