Tuesday, May 1, 2012

A Mystic Adventure


No one likes to jump in the car and go more than this girl.  So, naturally when the weather started getting nicer, I go itchy feet.  Where would my first stop of the season be?  You may have guessed it, Mystic Connecticut!  A spur of the moment trip, if you will.  I woke up on a sunny Saturday morning and said to myself “I don’t feel like wasting another beautiful day sitting around saying, I wish there was something to do.”  I took matters into my own hands…
 
So, I threw some clothes in a bag and filled my water bottle and jumped in the Kizashi and headed north.  With the iPod keeping me company with songs ranging from The Avett Brothers to Zeppelin, it was sure to be a good trip.   The sun was shining and traffic was almost nonexistent and a short three hours later I was cruising around downtown Mystic. 

Downtown Mystic is full of tiny stores full of things to tickle everyone’s fancy.  From toys to camo and shoes to ice cream, everyone is sure to be happy.  How can you not in such a cute little town.  Have you seen the movie Mystic Pizza?  It looks just like that…

After perusing downtown, I headed to Mystic Seaport for a giant dose of history.  You all know I tend to get a little seasick, so I was slightly apprehensive about climbing aboard the Tall Ships and peaking around.  But, you all know I also like a good day of exploring, so aboard I went.  I had nothing to worry about.  These Tall Ships were large enough and the Mystic River was calm enough that my tummy never swirled!
While I was there I took in a very informative presentation at the Treworgy Planetarium.  I learned how to locate many stars, planets and other celestial objects in the night sky.  For those of you who don’t know, I love me a starry sky!

 

 










The time is starting to get a little later in the day and I needed to find me a place to lay my head for the night, or at least grab a shower…  For some reason it was an unusually busy weekend in Mystic and many places had no vacancies.  So I headed to the next town, Groton, CT. where I found an adequate place to call home for the night.  The front desk attendant was very helpful and not bad to look at either.  He suggested Hub’s Clam Shack for dinner.  Well, this run down ice cream shop looking place had what could quite possibly be the best lobster bisque in all the world! Mad props for Hub’s!

After my belly was full and my face was clean I headed the 20 minutes or so to the Mohegan Sun to try my luck in cards and a couple slot machines.  Well, lady luck wasn’t on my side this night.  Although, it could have been much worse!

Interesting facts about the Mohegan Sun:

  • ·         The second largest casino in the world.
  • ·         Owns the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun.
  • ·         SolToro Tequila Grill has 80, yes eighty types of tequila in stock!
  • ·         Three casinos with 300,000+ square feet of gaming space
o   Casinos  of the Earth, Wind and Sky

Sunday morning, I enjoyed breakfast at the hotel before heading to Mystic Aquarium.  At the aquarium I was able to get up close and personal with a beluga whale, communicate with African penguins and pet a shark and a stingray.  There was an amazing display of jelly fish, and you thought the ones at the beach were scary!  Sea Lions sang for their supper and jumped through hoops to get it.  I also got to journey 12,450 feet below to explore the Titanic, the newest exhibit at the aquarium. All and all a very interesting visit.














Before jumping back in the car and heading the 3 hours back to reality, I decided to check out Olde Mistick Village.  I meandered along the brick walkways and window shopped at nearly 40 unique boutiques ranging from art to zapatos.   I purchased some caramel sea salt chocolate fudge and headed home.

 


Be sure to check back for the more adventures of jessethegypsy!


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