Thursday 8th June: Mystic Harbor Cruise Day
It was another mild and sunny morning but the impact of the Canadian wild fires still lingered here in Newport with smoke haze filtering the sun, thereby giving an eerie golden glow, and masking the colour of what should have been a beautiful blue sky. The main dampener of the morning though, for Mark at least, was the loss for the Sydney Swans; they were ahead at the start of our walk but behind by the end.
We had enjoyed our time in Newport, especially our quaint and lovely accommodation, and I would highly recommend this venue to anyone visiting Newport RI. Our next stop of Mystic is a popular tourist spot in Connecticut. It was founded in 1654 and became a prominent ship building area that lasted until the Civil war. The main industry for the local area today is tourism though and that is what brought us to the region.
Our check out from Newport wasn’t until 11 am and so we used every minute as our Mystic check in was at 2 pm but only a 90 minute drive away. We decided to take the slower coastal route, rather than the highway, to help spin out the time a bit and to maybe see a bit more along the way. Even with some dawdling along the way, we arrived at our Taber Inn accommodation in Mystic by around midday. Our intention had been to ask to park the car whilst we have a look around the town but they said our room was ready and so we were able to drop our bags off. It was about a 15 minute walk into town and so we set off to go and have an explore. One of the main tourist attractions in Mystic is to catch the opening and closing of the Mystic Bascule Drawbridge, right in the middle of downtown, and this was the first thing we encountered on reaching the area so we were able to tick that one off the list.
We were rather hungry by this time and so called into the first restaurant we came to after crossing over the draw bridge; The Mariner. They had lobster rolls on the menu, something we kept seeing everywhere we went, so we decided now was the time to give it a try. Mark had the lobster roll and I had the clam chowder but I think the chowder won the competition.
The host at our accommodation had suggested a harbour cruise as a nice way to explore around the waterfront area of Mystic and so we opted to take the afternoon 2 hr cruise at 3 pm with Argia Mystic Cruises. It was a pleasant enough two hour outing but we didn’t venture too close to any of the islands, which I would have liked. Especially Fishers Island where apparently the ultra rich like to spend their holidays. The drawbridge was one attraction tourist guides suggest not to miss but I would add the Mystic River Railroad bridge opening to that list. It was rather fascinating to watch the trains speed across the bridge whilst we waited for it to then pivot open to allow our sailing ship to have clear passage.
There was about an hour or so to kill after the harbour cruise and before our dinner reservation at The Shipwright’s Daughter so we visited two different craft breweries. The first one was Barley Head Brewing which proved to be rather ordinary and the second one was Bank and Bridge Brewing which was much more fun as there was some live entertainment. From there we went on to our restaurant for dinner and this ended up being a great evening. We had reserved a table but stopped to have a drink at the bar first off on our arrival. However, we ended up staying there as the chairs were super comfortable and there was more to watch and keep us entertained up at the bar. The meal was superb and they really do have great chefs here and so I would strongly suggest anyone who is visiting the area to make sure you put this place on your to-do list.
We only have two nights in Mystic but we already feel a greater affinity here than we did in Newport. Mystic is smaller and a bit more low-key /less pretentious which has appealed to us. I was trying to work out how to describe the area and the best I could do would be to say it’s a bit like Port Douglas (Qld) or an upmarket Ulludulla (NSW South coast). There is only a single lane road through the main areas of Mystic and I can only imagine how the congestion must be come peak season in Summer! Rather reminiscent of long traffic queues along parts of the NSW South Coast during our Summer periods.
Friday 9th June
It was a grey sky that greeted us on our one full day in Mystic but whether this was due to cloud or smoke haze wasn’t clear. We ventured out for a walk but kept running out of footpath so this adventure was short lived. We did come across an old cemetery, the Denison Burial Ground, and, as the name suggests, the entire plot was filled with the Denison clan stemming from Captain John Denison who was first buried there in 1698.
Our plan for the day was to visit the Mystic Seaport Museum, Old Mistik Village and a few other places along the way. The Mystic Seaport Museum is located along the Mystic River at the site of original 1800s shipyards and is the largest maritime museum in the USA. We were lucky to find two separate walking tours whilst we were at the museum; one on the overall history of the site and another on the history of the shipyards and this made the visit much more meaningful. Shipbuilding had made this region famous during the sailing / clipper period of history and the museum has endeavored to keep old shipbuilding crafts alive with shipyards, smith shops and mills still being active on site and able to be toured by museum visitors. One of the most impressive parts of our visit was walking through the oldest floating timber ship, the 1841 Charles W Morgan, that had previously been used for whaling. The below-deck living quarters were very confined and claustrophobic and made we wonder how people endured these horrible conditions.
We’d hit a wall after about 2 hours so left the museum to head in search of a lunch spot a few minutes up the road at the Old Mistik Village; a re-creation of a 1720 style colonial village that had a variety of shops, cafes and restaurants. We checked out a few of the shops and ended up at a pizza joint for lunch where we had a lobster pizza, the specialty of the day, which was quite nice.
Mark had found a nearby walking trail he wanted to take but I chickened out after about 10 minutes. The trail became poorly defined and it became harder to find the markers so that was me out. Sorry Mark but I’m sure I’m well up in brownie points for all the craft beer pub sessions I have sat through. It was then back home for a bit of a rest before venturing out again in the afternoon to check out Stonington.
Our bit of reading had suggested there were some vineyards in the Stonington area worth visiting as well as taking a walk down Water Street, the main street of the small Village. The vineyards didn’t work out for us, as they were all closed or closing shortly, so we headed to the Village to stroll down Water Street. One good thing about attempting some vineyards was that it got us driving all around Stonington and it is one very pretty area. The architecture of the homes outside of and within the Village was so impressive and it’s definitely worth a visit to simply take in all of these interesting sites. Sadly, most of the shops in Stonington were closed so we simply headed to The Breakwater for one drink that ended up evolving into dinner. This place had a strong feel rather reminiscent of the RMYC at Point Piper, there were even the same type of boaty people hanging about, but Matthew Scarf would be a welcome addition here to bring the so-called fine dining restaurant up to the kind of standard we enjoy back home. Maybe a global role for you Matthew? It was a delightful setting and the food was ok but the whole place seemed to be punching well below its weight. It was only 7.30 pm by the time we finished dinner but, despite the early hour, we drifted home as we were rather tired. Tomorrow we are off to Albany, the capital of New York, for an overnight on the way to the Bernie Sanders territory of Vermont.
We could easily have filled in another day or two in this beautiful part of Connecticut. Make sure, if you ever do visit this region, to take a drive out and check out the beautiful scenery and spectacular homes along Cove Road in Stonington and out to Masons island and Enders island. Also, whilst we thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the is it Taber Inn, I do think it would be better to stay right in the heart of Mystic and I would strongly recommend the Whalers Inn.
