Mystic Seaport

 September 30

We spent 3 hours at the Mystic Seaport Museum, 19 acres of the history of whaling and shipbuilding.

Admission is $23.95 per senior, $25.95 for adults. It is well worth it.

Walking along the river to the first dock.

We took a tour of a whaling ship first.

Here was the captain's quarters.

Anchors aweigh!

This was a cooper making barrels in which to

hold the whale oil and other products.

The printer working his press.

Precision ship clocks.

Lighthouse on premises.

A merchant ship being maintained at the shipyard.

Inside the work shop.

Homes in the village

A tavern

Looms inside the house

One of the residences

Another residence

The garden window

Carvings made by the sailors for figureheads.

Carved by sailors. Called "Drake"

Look at those puffy trees!

Staff headquarters

Downtown Mystic. Mystic Pizza is located on the right.

I took over 100 photos and have only included 20 here. The other ones are on various Facebook posts on my timeline. I didn't want to post all of them in any one place.

The seaport was well worth the time and money. Luckily it was not crowded. The only downside was that only one restaurant was open, and we got there just a tour bus had dropped off its customers. So we ended up eating at a restaurant off site. There were a couple small cafes open but just a few sandwiches and other snacks. 

We're off to Rhode Island tomorrow!

Long Island to Mystic, CT

Wednesday, Sept. 29

The lobby of our Mariott hotel in Melville.

Woke up to a beautiful morning on LI. Found an Au Bon Pain nearby in a huge Bank of America complex and ate breakfast there. 

The lobby of the BOA building.

The "Good Egg" sandwich.

We were on our way to Connecticut but first we had to navigate our way through Long Island. Once we got off the expressway, we found the east end of Long Island very charming. We drove through a lot of farmland and a few very quaint villages. I saw a clapboard building that turned out to be a McDonald's! We had to dodge goats at one point that had managed to escape their pen and were munching along the roadway.

We finally reached Orient Point where we pulled into the ferry terminal and bought a ticket for the 1:00 crossing.

Pulling onto the ferry.

The ferry port as we leave.

It takes about 1 hour and 20 minutes to cross the sound. We ate lunch on the ferry (hot dogs). After about an hour we got close enough to the Connecticut shore for me to start taking pictures.

Several houses on a spit, and one on a rock (island).

Close up of the house on the spit.

Cool lighthouse

Getting ready to turn into the river.

Love the sailboats!

Another picture of the lighthouse.

Almost lost my sunglasses trying to get a picture of this.

The wind was that strong!!

We chugged through the Thames River (not the one in London) to New London! 

Fort Trumbull

Looks like a cannon on this rock.

Passing a ferry going back to Long Island.

Lots of sailboats anchored off shore.

The ferry terminal is on the right.

We headed to Mystic which is about 10 miles east of New London. After checking into our hotel, we went out and found a pizza restaurant (not the famous one) and had dinner.

The pizza was good. We each got one and now we're

set with leftovers.

The plan for tomorrow is head for Mystic Seaport, which is a museum (19 acres) of old seafaring buildings, ships, displays, etc. It's been on my bucket list for awhile!

A much better today than yesterday (although now I realize I left my phone charger and cord at a previous hotel. Luckily I can use the iPad charger).

Oh, no leaf color yet. But much cooler temperatures.

Long Island

 Tuesday September 28

I should have known it was going to be a challenging day. I woke up still with a gimpy foot and sore throat. Add to that some vertigo! Luckily I had my medication with me so I took it and lay back down. In about a half hour I was feeling better so went down and had breakfast. Then back up for a nap. We took a late check out and left around noon. 

Somewhere in NJ, we pulled onto an exit to find a restroom. A simple turn right proved almost impossible because of a traffic back up. So we decided to turn onto the main road and make a U turn. We found out the hard way that THERE ARE NO U TURNS OR LEFT TURNS IN JERSEY! Well, there are but you have to turn right! We drove MILES before we figured out how to get turned around. Once kinda back on the way we stopped to eat at a WaWa. No tables anywhere so we ate in the car. I used a plastic bag as a bib.

From there we had no problem getting through New Jersey. We took the Goethals Bridge over to Staten Island then the Verrazano Bridge to Brooklyn. THEN we hit traffic! We passed JFK airport and crawled along. Finally turned north towards 495. We were turning right and Paul had to inch up to see oncoming traffic. Then BAM! We got hit from behind  (we bought our car exactly one year ago tomorrow)! But luckily our bumper absorbed the impact and there was no dent or scratch. I made Paul pull over so I could get myself calmed down. 

Once I updated my GPS, we made it to 495 okay. I checked the map and found the nearest hotel—a Marriott in Melville. Pretty luxurious. After dropping off our luggage, we drove to a nice Italian restaurant and ate dinners  

We plan to drive to Orient tomorrow and take the ferry to New London, CT tomorrow  

I need a rest! My teeth hurt from so much clenching!

Wilmington, DE

 Monday, Sept. 27

A nice leisurely morning led to a wonderful meeting with a new/old friend. Kathy is cousins with an acquaintance and an acquaintance of my cousin. We met on FB a few years ago and instantly "clicked." So when we planned to come to Delaware on vacation, I put her on the itinerary. She actually lives in New Castle, which is just south of Wilmington.

Kathy and I  at her home in New Castle

She is a big Phillies and Eagles fan, but also follows the Flyers. Her politics mesh with mine. She's got a great sense of humor and the patience of a saint! Her house has 8 residents! Her daughter and son-in-law with 2 of her grandchildren live in one part of the house, then she, her husband Tom, her daughter Rachel and her 71 year old cousin, Denny, live in her part of the house. Denny is mentally challenged and she gave him a home when both of his parents passed. She babysits the 6 month old (Jaime) and her 9 year old grandson when he's not in school. Her one daughter is in college in Pa. so when she comes home, the house fits 9! She calls it pandemonium, but while we were there, things seemed to be in good control.  Even her dog Charlie listened to her! Of course, Paul was thrilled to have a baby to play with.

After a three hour visit, during which we met husband Tom and daughter Rachel, we left and headed to the riverfront in Wilmington. As per usual, we got bad directions from my GPS because I kept asking for Riverwalk instead of Riverfront! Finally I figured it out and we had a quick ride over to the Christina River. We found a place to eat that was right on the walk and had a very nice lunch.

Strawberry and goat cheese salad. Yum!

We then took a short walk along the river, but not to the end of the walk because my right foot decided to become painful so I limped along for awhile.

The back of our restaurant.

Interesting birdhouse.

The river, near the public dock.

Paul on the river walk.

We knew there was a public market down on the other end, so we drove over to it. However, it was very small and really had nothing we were interested in buying. It did have several interesting looking eateries but we had just eaten.

It was a quick ride back to the hotel in Newark (Delaware!) and we passed the University of Delaware stadium which is right across from our hotel. 

Go Blue Hens!!

We head north tomorrow, and will try to make Long Island our next stop, but who knows how far we'll get. We're trying to go at a leisurely rate!