Excuse the delay in posting: I’m housesitting for the week and will be slightly less present on the internet.

 On Friday we headed off on our ‘epic’ road trip: a 100 mile loop through New Hampshire’s White Mountains.

The forecast had been threatening rain for most of the week, but it turned out to be a gorgeous day.

The only clouds in the sky were big, fluffy, and thoroughly postcard-worthy.

This landscape is so foreign to me that it really feels as though I’m in another part of the country.

New England is a squashed up bunch of not-so-big states (and one commonwealth; yes, Massachusetts, I heard you). While each place is unique, they are similar enough to give the whole region a cohesive identity. I am a New Englander.

Still, it’s funny the differences that crop up with just these few miles of distance between us. My fondest memories of New England are memories of the coast: of the sunrise at Nubble Light, cute coastal villages, the feeling of sand in my sneakers and cold salt spray whipping at my hair.

But New England is not all coastline – it’s not even mostly coastline – and where I grew up with the beach as my playground, many of my friends grew up knowing the rugged New Hampshire inland like the back of their hands.

I think New Hampshire can often get overlooked, and not just by outsiders. Maine has the beaches, Vermont has the Green Mountains (and the hippies), Massachusettes and Connecticut have the cities, and Rhode Island is just…well, small. New Hampshire may not have the beaches, and it doesn’t have the big name cities, but I’m not sure than any other New England state can compete for the sheer, wild beauty of New Hampshire’s interior. Where Vermont’s mountains roll across the landscape in a way that’s almost gentle, the White Mountains are harder, wilder. They jut up from behind the forest and cut into the sky. These mountains, the lakes, the rivers and rocks: to me they are exotic, and stunningly beautiful.

At the end of our drive, we stopped for a swim in the Kancamagus River.

fun tip: want to pronounce Kancamagus correctly locally?

Kang-uh-MANG-us.