Connecticut!

New England road trip continued......

Connecticut! Day 2 & 3




















Packed in our Sebring, we drove from New York to Mystic, Connecticut. The drive was only about 1 1/2 hours long. We arrived at our home for the next 2 nights. The Residence Inn Mystic Groton www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/gonmy-residence-inn-mystic-groton/. Turned out to be a great place to stay! The rooms are meant for long term stays. Each room has a bed, living room area with a sofa bed and a small kitchenette. The kitchenette has a full size fridge, dishwasher and microwave. The stay includes free internet, parking and breakfast. Very economic! It is also very close to Mystic Seaport and downtown Mystic.

I really loved Mystic. Some of the things that should not be missed are:

Mystic Seaport- A seaport with a beautiful view. It is free to stop by and look but if you want to go into the museum and onto the boats it will cost you.
Mystic Seaport- A Museum of America and the Sea- $18.50 for adults & $13 for children 6-17
www.mysticseaport.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewPage&page_id=1































Mystic River Drawbridge- Takes you to downtown Mystic (Mystic Pizza is here). We actually saw the drawbridge lift to let a boat go through. I was kicked out of the car to go take pictures. I'm serious. This actually happened quite a bit through out our trip. ;-)
http://www.mysticpizza.com/restaurants.aspx





































Downtown Mystic- Shops, restaurants, a few bars and home of Mystic Pizza where they filmed the movie with the same name. Starring of course, Julia Roberts. We did get to dine in Mystic Pizza and it was very yummy. It is filled with tons of memorabilia from the movie and actually plays the movie on the tv's. A must see for movie fans.
















Old Mistick Village- Very cute old town shopping village. A small movie theatre, coffee houses, chocolate and candy stores, gift shops, restaurants and great landscaping. Old Mistick Village was the beginning of our New England leaf collecting adventure. My mom was collecting different types of leaves for herself and I promised a friend I would bring her leaves that would remind her of where she grew up on the east coast. Old Mistick Village was a great place to start our collection.
www.oldmysticvillage.com/
















Clyde's Cider Mill- OMG a must see for a cider lover like me!!! I love hot apple cider and hard cider. FYI, Hard Cider = alcholic beverage. And for those of you who think hard cider is a "girly" drink at the bar.....it actually has more alcohol than beer! So do not judge!!!! ;-) Okayyy?! Clyde's is the oldest steam powered cider mill in the United States! Only open from September to late December so plan accordingly. They have cider making demonstrations and a gift shop where you can purchase the cider and other specialties to go. They also serve hot cider, hot apple pie, candy apples and apple cider donuts. These apple cider donuts must have been delicious because there was a 30 minute or longer wait for them! I guess I'll just have to go back. I did try the apple pie and cider and both were delicious.
www.bfclydescidermill.com/

**My mom and I actually got the chance to go to the movies at Old Mistick Village. Funny thing is that the latest movie started at 7:10pm! They definitely shut down early in small town Mystic! We saw the movie, The Secret Lives of Bees. I had just read the book and was dying to see the movie. The movie was pretty much exactly like the book. Both were amazing! Check them out!
www.foxsearchlight.com/thesecretlifeofbees/

**I started a game with my niece in New York. I bought her an I Love NY button for her back pack. To get her involved in the trip, we told her to collect a button from each state she went to. This became a game for her and she was so excited each time she found a new button. She would tell everyone about her buttons and which states she already had and which states she still needed. She is 4 but she is super smart. She listed the states we were visiting in correct order each time. I would say 70% of the trip she was involved in her leapster computer, her books, her dvd player or my brother's iPod that was filled with Dora and Backyardigans. These all kept her busy and let us gawk at the scenery without complaints. 20% of her time was spent playing around these different cities and the last 10% was spent on finding buttons. She had a blast with it. One minor problem occured when we lost the New York button in the airport. We thought it was gone forever. About an hour later, we found it. Thank goodness. I did not want to see the meltdown that would have occured had we not found it. Ek!

Next Stop........
Rhode Island!


Travel Girl's Connecticut Movie:
Mystic Pizza





















Travel Girl Reads:
The Secret Lives of Bees: by Sue Monk Kidd