19 Sep

Mystic Friends...

Our next stop on the East Coast Tour was Mystic, CT, yes that Mystic; if your over thirty you understand. We stayed at another RV park called Seaport Rv and Campground. We unfortunately didn't spend enough time in the campground to complete a review but it seemed nice. We were in Connecticut to see friends and that is what we did.

We ended up spending the day at Mystic Seaport. At first I thought the place was a little pricey but we choose to spend the day anyway and I am glad to report it was well worth the price.

Hanging with the Morgans ready to see the Captain Morgan

This is from the Mystic Seaport website...

"Mystic Seaport is the nation’s leading maritime museum. Founded in 1929 to gather and preserve the rapidly disappearing artifacts of America’s seafaring past, the Museum has grown to become a national center for research and education with the mission to “inspire an enduring connection to the American maritime experience.”

The Museum’s grounds cover 19 acres on the Mystic River in Mystic, CT and include a recreated 19th-century coastal village, a working shipyard, formal exhibit halls, and state-of-the-art artifact storage facilities. The Museum is home to more than 500 historic watercraft, including four National Historic Landmark vessels, most notably the 1841 whaleship Charles W. Morgan, America’s oldest commercial ship still in existence." used from http://www.mysticseaport.org/about/ read more.

At first after reviewing the website I thought that the older kids would be bored but the living museum provided plenty of opportunity for the kids to interact with different people throughout the village. They learned how kids are schooled if your dad is a captain of a ship, what it was like to be a blacksmith for a seaport and what did a whaling ship look like. The characters throughout the living museum were extremely engaging and the kids loved it so we did too.

A short write up about Mystic Seaport downloaded from their website.

Map of Mystic Seaport from their website. There is plenty todo.

What would life be like with out "Funny Photos"

They had a science area where the kids learned about weights and pulleys, air currents across sails, rudders and ocean currents, the room was packed with exhibits.

They had a long talk with the school teacher. They compared and contrasted the difference from school on a ship and school today. Both parties I think had fun.

Many building to explore throughout the town. We only made it to about half of them.

A couple of men full of puns. I think the adults enjoyed this more than the kids.

They had a ship building area where the kids were handed a small base of a boat and they could add anything they could glue onto it. They worked for long time.

The last whaling ship left from a large fleet of whaling ships. It was beautiful but was probably not when we was a working ship. Whaling was a tough and dirty job.

The kids stopped at the watch maker and he gave them a quest. They had to complete the quest by accomplishing many tasks with different equipment. Each piece of equipment took them further back into history. When they finish they all received a compass.

Overall we really enjoyed the day. The shops and restaurants were centrally located so we where never to far from refreshment and ice cream, and the prices were reasonable. We didn't expect to spend the entire day but we did, and we would go back.

So we didn't stop but we did get a picture...