May 31, 2013 - Mystic, Connecticut

5/31/13, Friday Today we left Jersey City and had to cross the river through Bronx, NY by crossing the George Washington Bridge. It cost us a $60.00 TOLL!!! Ouch!! Then we had to go through some tunnels, over more bridges and fighting traffic all the way! We finally cleared the New York area and got on a relatively low traffic freeway headed through Deleware and into Connecticut. Arriving in Connecticut, we passed a number of beautiful churches. The style of building in this area seems unique. All the churches have high steeples. We...

Oct 1, 2012 - Of God and mystics

What a powerful day it was yesterday. We had our choice of United Methodist Churches to attend and we decided on Calvary UMC in Middletown near to our campground. We packed up in the rain (we got to use our full rain gear)and headed off. During the greeting time of the service I introduced myself to the Rev. Dr. Amy Alletzhauser (Amy) and told her we were NOMADS. She was greatly impressed knowing about NOMADS and asked if we would feel comfortable later in the service to tell the congregation of our experience. Of course that is an easy one...

Sep 12, 2012 - Mystic, Connecticut

A couple of months before we started this trip, friends advised where we should visit in the East. Bob and Carol D., live down the street from us. Back in the day, they lived in Connecticut. One day Carol brought us a packet of brochures of places to visit. She also made a list of places and rated them! She gave Mystic Seaport a Five Star rating. Initially, I’d planned to take the motor-home down to Mystic and spend a night or two. But then I reconsidered the short distance from Boston to the Connecticut coast and we decided to take the car...

Sep 12, 2012 - Submarines, a castle and a ferry

Our last day in Mystic, so we headed down the coast a bit to Groton, the submarine capital of the United States. “The Submarine Force Museum, located on the Thames River in Groton, Connecticut, maintains the world's finest collection of submarine artifacts. It is the only submarine museum operated by the United States Navy, and as such is the primary repository for artifacts, documents and photographs relating to U.S. Submarine Force history. The museum traces the development of the "Silent Service" from David Bushnell's Turtle, used in the...

Sep 11, 2012 - Mystic Seaport and Mystic Pizza

We had been advised to go see the Mystic Seaport. From the owner of the Mystic Seaport: “Founded in 1929, Mystic Seaport is the nation’s leading maritime museum featuring tall ships, historic landmarks, a re-created 19th-century village, exhibits, a planetarium and a maritime art gallery.” We were there for 6 hours and had such a good time. The most impressive for me was the Charles W. Morgan, the last all wood whaling ship in the world. She has been in dry dock restoration for 4 years and will return to the sea next year. Took tons of...

Sep 10, 2012 - Newport, RI to Mystic, CT

Today we drove from Newport, Rhode Island to Mystic, Connecticut. A very short trip. We arrived early and so Fred suggested that we go down to the beach, I stopped in the KOA office where we were staying in North Stonington and she gave me the name of a beach and a little piece of paper with driving instructions. Too funny, on our way we crossed the border back into Rhode Island. Someone told me later that Connecticut does not have good beaches and so people go to Rhode Island. We went to, are you ready, Misquamicut State Beach. First we...

Aug 14, 2012 - Mystic Seaport, Ct.

We left early and headed for Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Connecticut. I know some of you are scratching your head wondering where you heard the name Mystic. Several years ago Julia Roberts starred in a movie called “Mystic Pizza”. She played a waitress at this famous restaurant. We ate there the last time we were here and must say that we were unimpressed. Sad but true, on Joyce’s pizza scale…only a five. However, we came to see the Seaport. I saw it 12 years ago visiting my son, but John had never been there and he was in his element. We...

Oct 13, 2011 - Mystic, Connecticut

Woke up to rain but warm day around 20 C. Easy to find the State House at Providence, Rhode Island, the general assembly has used this building since 1901. The large marble dome is supposed to be the forth largest unsupported dome in the world. The bronze statue on top of the dome is ‘Independence Man’. Took I 95 to Mystic Connecticut and camped for the night at Seaport Campground. Early in the afternoon when we arrived so had time to explore the area and find the Old Lighthouse Museum. The museum was at the end of a narrow dead end road....

Jul 2, 2011 - Rambling

This past week has been busy with being a tourist! There is so much to see in the area. Connecticut is the 3rd smallest state so distance is not a problem for anywhere we want to go. The weather remains just awesome...it has not been above 81 degrees since we have been here! Monday we headed west out of the campground towards New Haven, CT. New Haven is the home of Yale University. We were looking for a little education! But first we did some exploring. Our first town was Old Lyme. We traveled up and down the streets that are just full of...

Jun 29, 2011 - Noank, CT an unexpected treat

When you live the lifestyle of a fulltimer you have the opportunity to spend extended time in some communities. As is the case of our time here in Connecticut. During these times of extended stays we like to take care of normal life activities such as getting a hair cut. Well, Tom headed to Coastal Barber....a one chair barber shop here in East Lyme. While getting his hair cut Tom learned all the local gossip plus some interesting places to visit and eat. One of these spots was Noank, CT. Last Friday we headed toward Noank for lunch and...

Jun 28, 2011 - Summer RV Trip to New England - (Mystic, CT)

Today we are touring. It is a little difficult to find what you need to do since there are so many different areas – Old Mystic, Mystic, Mystic Seaport, but we tackled it by starting at the Mystic Seaport Museum. You could spend a whole day here - lots of activities for all ages. 110628-03-Mystic, CT One of our first stops was to board Amistad (remember the movie) and learn about its history. 110628-08-Mystic, CT - Mystic Seaport - Amistad - Gary There was also a very impressive old whaling ship which was being restored but was impossible...

Jun 27, 2011 - Summer RV Trip to New England - (Mystic, CT)

Summer RV Trip to New England – (Cape May, NJ)This was a tough day. We got up at 7:00 AM and were on the road by 8:30 AM. Completed our inside and outside packing easily. Gary successfully dumped the tanks. Again, we had problems with the GPS – for some reason it just hates I95. This time, however, we were ready – Gary knows the route to get to Mystic, CT – just follow I85. Things were going well until we got just north of Newark, NJ and were following signs to the George Washington Bridge – the traffic slowed and then stopped. Finally...