Roadtrip Day 3: Portsmouth, NH

Our first stop in Portsmouth, New Hampshire was the Red Hook Brewery.  The brewery was really cool, and the tour was soooo much fun.  We got to sample a bunch of beers, and they were running the bottling machine during the time of our tour, which they said is very rare!  It was really cool to see.

After the tour, we were both quite hungry so we stopped by the brew pub at Red Hook and each had a beer and some appetizers.  I had Kona Brewing Company's Longboard Lager (in preparation for our upcoming trip to Kona, Hawaii!), and McGee had Red Hook's Long Hammer IPA (you should read the small print on his glass!  So clever).  I learned during the brewery tour that Red Hook is partnered with Kona Brewing Company and Widmer Brothers Brewing, and actually makes all of their beers for them!

We then left Red Hook and drove to the Ale House Inn to get settled in before checking out Portsmouth.  The Inn was soooo cool, and they gave us a few bottles of local beers when we checked in (Smuttynose beer!).  I've never had a hotel or inn give me free beers at check-in!  That was a nice surprise.  

We then left the Inn and wandered around Portsmouth, with our first stop being the waterfront.  There was a really cool drawbridge and lots of tugboats on the water. Here's some of our attempts to capture the scenery and our cool flannel shirts from L.L. Bean!  

Portsmouth was a very cool town, and we learned that it was mainly beer-focused, and most of our activities revolved around beer.  We stopped by the Portsmouth Brewing Company (which is partnered with Smuttynose Brewing Company), and I drank some Smuttynose Vunderbar Pilsner and McGee had some very hoppy beers from Portsmouth Brewing Company.  Then we wandered (or stumbled) over to the Thirsty Moose Taphouse, which has over 100 beers on tap.  They also had the Chargers game on, so I got to see the Chargers win!  After that, it was getting late and we were getting hungry and tired, so we grabbed some dinner at the River House (they've won awards 3 years in a row for their Seafood Chowder - McGee loved it!), and then dessert at Izzy's Frozen Yogurt and Ice Cream Shop, and then back to the Ale House Inn for some relaxing!  

We had such a fun vacation, and I'm so sad it's over!  The only good thing about it being over was that we got to pick up Guinness from the boarding place, and WOW was he happy to see us!!  He was doing his adorable smiling for like 3 minutes, and he couldn't stop wagging his whole body and making his little happy noises (they sound almost like little oinks).