Fifteen Reasons to Live in New Hampshire

I have lived in NH for many consecutive years and have found several compelling reasons to stay here. Here are some, but not all of the reasons NH is a pretty cool place to live.

1. We do not have pirates but the notorious Black Beard was rumored to have hid booty of our coast. There are boat tours available where you can have a narrated tour of the Isle of Shoals (Black Beards' supposed old stomping grounds). If you have pirate fantasies you will be disappointed, no one will call you "Matey".

2. We do not test nukes like Nevada did. We do, however, have a nuclear power plant in Seabrook, NH which claims to produce clean energy.

3. We are not in hot zone for earthquakes, we experience baby quakes every 10 years or so but nothing of an earth shattering (or building) nature. The last one was the equivalent to a large truck rumbling by on the street.

4. We only have on average, two twisters a year and nine out ten are the ones the national weather has to actually check to see if it was a twister. It's the tenth that comes every century or so that you have to bury yourself in bathtub for safety reasons. We had one last summer that cut quite a path of destruction. It is most likely we won't see something like that for at least another half century or so.

5. We still drive normally, most natives hate and fear aggressive drivers, (we claim to love our tourists but it's really just their money). NH just increased speeding tickets and warned its citizens but everyone knows it's because of the abutting state revenues.

6. We have the first primary in the nation; we get to know politicians before at their very first fib. A friendly protocol is followed during "Meet the Candidates." It is generally laid back, with lots of handshaking and a "Hi! How are you doing today? Thank you for coming!" It is then followed by audience participation with the candidate. None of that questionable bowing business if there just happens to be a Mideast king in the audience (another story, but where is written a president bows to a king?). We usually feel pretty important when these town meetings with the candidates are covered by the national media.

7. What you see is what you get. We are saddened but make no apologies for the Old Man of the Mountain suddenly becoming a pile of rubble after decades of good advertising. For those who are unfamiliar, the Old Man was a well documented landmark in the White Mountain region of NH.

8. We don't have cooties but beware of ticks. Illness from ticks is easily averted if one wears proper clothing and does a once over check of themselves after being in the woods or other tick loving enviroments. You could make that fun and have your better half check you over slowly and carefully.

9. We have never had a shark reported death off our coastline, all thirteen miles of it. There are sharks but nothing that is known to kill you.

10 We can officially brag of the highest winds ever recorded from Mount Washington, 231 miles per hour, officially recorded as the "highest on the surface of the earth" in 1934. For some quirky reason we are very proud of this.

11. We have a very unique state motto "Live free or die". This motto has been invoked and quoted for many proposed legislative bills such as the choice of not wearing a motorcycle helmet.

12. If we have nothing other than the weather to complain about, it will change drastically in about three months. Our weather varies from a frigid 20 below with blowing snow to hot and humid high 90's.

13. We do not have a sales tax and never have. Of course we suck it up in other ways but this seems to be a big pull towards any new campaigner running under the republican ticket.

14. We don't as a rule get mauled by exotic animals. There is an occasional piranha in the Merrimack River as escapee of an exotic fish tank owner. I have heard whispers of wild boar maulings however...

15. We have cheap liquor. Every state run liquor store located by the border can attest to this fact. This means that we can party with our neighbors, visiting or otherwise, in any season (or mood) in NH. We have fun here!