1. Portsmouth and the Isles of Shoals. Great microbrews: Portsmouth Brewery is right downtown, or Red Hook a little further out. See a show at the Portsmouth Music Hall. Take kids to the Portsmouth Children's Museum or historic Strawbery Banke.
2. Hike Mt. Monadnock, the second-most-climbed mountain in the world. There are 40 miles of trails here. You could also walk around downtown Peterborough
3. Canterbury Shaker Village.
Once a thriving community of 300 Shakers. They worked, lived, and worshipped together. Guided tours through the buildings and grounds takes about ninety minutes. The Shaker Table is a great restaurant built on the site of the former blacksmith shop.
4. Franconia Notch - White Mountains Region. Visit the Flume and the Basin, take a ride up the Cannon tram, and visit the Ski Museum or the Frost Place. Take the kids to Clark's Trading Post in Lincoln and see the trained bears, or go to Lost River and pan for gold!
5. Mt Washington Valley. Drive your car up the Auto Road, see the observatory, just drive around the area. A great hike in this area is Arethusa Falls, a 200-foot waterfall in Crawford Notch. Families will love all the summer activities at Attitash, including guided horseback rides, a climbing wall, play pool, summit sky ride and Alpine Slide.
6. Concord: Visit the State Capitol. The Christa McAuliffe Planetarium is a great idea on rainy days.
7. Lake Winnipesaukee - The Lakes Region area. Visit the League of NH Craftsmen Retail Gallery in Wolfeboro Falls, learn about loons at the Loon Center in Moultonborough, take a cruise around the lake. Weirs Beach has plenty for families to do; water slide, arcade games, boardwalk food, Funspot.
8. Take in a minor league baseball game the Fishercats are in Manchester or the Pride in Nashua.
9. Canobie Lake Park in Salem is an amusement park and ideal for a group with a wide age range.
10. See America'a Stonehenge in North Salem. Bring a picnic lunch and make a day of it.
~ Jenn for nhliving.com
