Today was “Mystic Day”.

The day stared (probably) pretty normally for this trip. Kids up early, breakfast, finished watching Frozen, then a flurry of activity getting ready to get out the door before the appointed 10:00 hour. We almost made it even after returning to the house to pick up a list of forgotten items.

So by the time we got to Mystic (the town) Spencer was asleep. So we took a brief tour of the town before returning to “the village.”

Eventually it was time to wake S up and head for the Historic Mystic Seaport – a fictitious whaling-era seaport village representative of a typical 19th century fishing/whaling settlement. While the village itself is ficticous the buildings were collected and relocated from actual sites along the New England coast. So it certainly had the flavor of authenticity.

Following the obligatory “welcome” shot we headed to a caffeteria for second breakfast (or was it first lunch?).

Following that treat (Jesse and Papa got “foot long hotdogs” that were actually a foot long!) we wandered. We visited an “experience barn” where we learned about many of the mechanical principles that go into sailing – both in the 18th century and today.

By the time we had walked from one end to the other – at least twice – we were starving and it was way past time for second lunch. So we piled into the car and headed downtown to a pizza place that some of the staff had recommended. The pizza was excellent – as were the (really fresh) fish and chips, the grinder, the wraps, the sweet potato fries, and everything else that we ended up eating instead of the pizza that J and S shared.

Then it was time to head to the Mystic Aquarium. It was 3:00 by the time we got there and the ticket person was apologizing that all the “animal shows” were done for the day. Not a problem, we’ll just look around. So we did – and ran into feeding time for the Beluga Whales.

The whales were much appreciative of their food and demonstrated their thanks.

We also saw penguins

And bullfrogs

And sea lions

And sand sharks

And red-bellied Piranha

And Tasmanian Giant Crabs

And Rays

And we got to see our friends get eaten by a Polar Bear

And we saw Mud Skippers

And we got to touch crabs and things

And we got to pet a shark

And (of course) we got to play at the water table

Eventually it was time to find some ice cream and call it a day. We headed home for supper, a movie (Aladdin) and packing. Tomorrow we head for New Hampshire – with several stops along the way. Should be interesting.

Nite all.