Mystic, Connecticut

Spent several days exploring Mystic. Fun fact, Mystic is NOT a city/town. Half (the west side) of Mystic is governed by Groton, CT (the home of Electric Boat the submarine manufacturer for the US Navy) and the east side is governed by Stonington, CT. 

The first thing you realize when visiting is that in the center of Mystic there is a drawbridge that rises to let boats pass below. When this happens all traffic in this very busy summer vacation spot grinds to a halt.

Traffic is a major issue in this town along with parking. That said there are some real treasures on the main drag. First is “Sift.” It’s an amazing bakery that carries all kinds of breakfast delights, high-end desserts and pastries and crusty breads. Lines are long but they move fast.  Catty-corner across from Sift is the iconic pizza joint made famous by Julia Roberts - Mystic Pizza.

There are also lots of unique stores in the area with eclectic offerings. One of my favorite stores caters to men. It’s called Trove and it had a “trove” of items that paid homage to the movie “The Big Lebowski.”  Who knew people still buy “Dude” inspired stuff.  

Also spent a day with my nephew who drove down from NYC to visit.  We spent the day having lunch at a converted gas station that serves tacos and then exploring the aquarium.  

Definitely one of my favorite aquariums in the country.  

Phil spent one of the days here exploring the in water Wooden Boat show. Lucky he went on Friday because the show ended early on Saturday as a result of the impending forecast that soon to be Hurricane Henri was taking aim on Southern New England. On Saturday night we took some final photos of Mystic before we left. Hard to believe that in less than 24 hours the storm would hit this area.