Wearing dampened clothes wet with rain and sea spray, Taylor Armstrong spent the last hours of her cloud-filled adventure with her boyfriend, John Tetlow, on Hampton Beach's deserted shores. Except for the couple, only a few people were seen strolling the beach with their dogs. Both 19 years old, the couple drove 40 minutes from Concord on Wednesday night to embark on a short break from the familiar.

"We don't know where we're going. We just go out and do things," said Armstrong.

The night before, they stayed in the Meadowbrook Inn near the Portsmouth traffic circle spending a total of $35 on the room. There, the couple encountered an unexpected surprise. After receiving their room key, they walked to their room and opened the motel door to find the room occupied.

"They gave us the wrong room key. A random guy was in there," said Armstrong.

After explaining the situation to the man tucked into his bed for the night, he laughed a little before the two left the room. They then were given a new room key by the front desk. In the morning they ate at Bickford's before driving to Hampton Beach.

Armstrong found the vacant beach to be a strange but pleasant setting compared to her memories of Hampton's swarming summertime ocean shores.

"Hampton is usually crowded. It's nice. It's almost a different beach," said Armstrong.

Returning to Concord Thursday afternoon, the couple planned to watch movies before Armstrong had to return to work at Uno's Pizzeria. A freshman at New Hampshire Technical Institute in Concord, she is taking the semester off to save money for upcoming semesters. She plans to graduate with a criminal justice degree to become a police officer either in an urban or suburban setting.

"I can't see myself in an office job. I want to do something different," said Armstrong.

But right now, Armstrong is adjusting to adult life. She recently moved out of her parents' home in Merrimack and lives in a Concord apartment. It's been a bit of a struggle for Armstrong to fit into a setting away from her parents.

"I'm an only child so sometimes I'm temperamental. I try not to be. I'm learning you can't always get what you want," said Armstrong.