I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! I spent most of the past few days going from beach to beach throughout New Hampshire and Maine- rounding out my overcast Memorial Day at Old Orchard Beach, where I spent a couple of hours watching the waves crash in beneath the pier (the water was freezing, by the way!) and doing a little window browsing at some of the seaside surf shops.

One of the things I love about OOB is that while most, if not all of the action is located primarily at the pier and the boardwalk arcade/amusement park- making finding whatever you want to do for fun very convenient- you can walk 10-15 minutes in any direction and be in a more quiet, less-crowded area without losing that “beach town” charm. There’s still plenty of cozy motels, bungalows, little stores and restaurants scattered around to check out.

One restaurant in particular, the Sunset Bar & Grill, located just down the road from the pier, happened to be one of the places I stopped to grab a quick bite to eat and people watch from the outdoor patio. Although there were quite a few inebriated people seated around me who were growing increasingly louder and belligerent (Memorial Day weekend and all,) the food was good enough to distract me and my waitress was so sweet!

I’ve mentioned spending weekends this Summer in Concord and Upstate New York, among other places- but I’d really love to take a few days to head back up to OOB to swim, surf, and lounge. The sea air feels wonderful (although it does tend to make my hair huge.) Even though I was only there for a few hours- I left feeling so relaxed.

I’d actually like to do a comparison post this Summer of all the pros/cons of Old Orchard Beach and what I consider to be it’s biggest competitor- Hampton Beach, New Hampshire- since I usually frequent both throughout the Summer. It looks like I’ll just have to take a couple of  weekends to do some more thorough research. Poor me!

xx