Mystical Day Trips

As the dog days of summer are upon us, the long sunny weekends don't offer much relief and respite from the heat and humidity. Let's face it, you can't tame the sweat dripping down your back and under your bra and on the soles of your feet, and waiting in line for a Loopy Doopy popsicle cocktail on a slightly less-sweaty roof just doesn't cut it when its 90 and humid. If you're interested in doing a little more than hugging your air conditioner this weekend, a quick waterside getaway is the perfect option. There are tons of places to go just a few hours from the city - beaches, boardwalks, bars - pick your poison. If you're in the mood for a little history (or just some cute marine mammals), there's no better village than Mystic, Connecticut, nestled on the southern coast of Connecticut right where the Long Island Sound meets the open Atlantic. While I wound up in Mystic  via an overnight stop in Hartford, CT (Dylan's hometown), the village is only two and a half hours by car from New York City, yet feels thousands of miles - not to mention hundreds of years - away from the noise, grime, and sweat of the urban oven.

Photo Courtesy of MysticSeaport.org

Fittingly, the main attraction is a reconstructed 19th-century whaling village called Mystic Seaport. The museum-waterfront-living-history park is full of colonial houses, real wooden whaling ships from the 1700s, along with extras like wartime cannons, butter-churning demonstrations, and other artifacts of America's maritime past. While entrance to the museum itself is a whopping $25, there are plenty of other elements of the town that feel old-timey enough without the costumed gentlemen and somewhat contrived obsession with bygone seafaring ways.

The other major attraction in the Mystic area is of course the aquarium. The aquarium is home to many species of marine mammals and fish, and the majority of the exhibits are outdoors, so its a good combination of wandering around in the sun and cooling off inside. We arrived around 1:30, and were told that we should arrive early at the sea lion show to get good seats - it started at two. So we beelined for the sea lion theater, only to realize that we could have walked in at 1:55 with space to spare. Oh well - it was a respite from the sun and we got to watch the sea lions do their warm up: waddle a few feet, then throw themselves onto their bellies and glide about a dozen yards before plopping into the darkened pool. The show itself was just about the cheesiest affair I could have imagined - clearly a 20-something couple was not their target audience. I'll spare you the details, but there involved a sea lion military academy, an evil foreign spy, a secret computer code, and some not-covert messaging about saving the world's oceanic resources. Luckily, the animal tricks are enough to distract from the horrendous and unnecessary plot.

The open-air exhibits include a sting ray touch-tank, where Dylan and I jockeyed with children who came up to our knees to slide our hands over the backs of the rays before they dove to the bottom of the tank; a large, blue enclosure home to a few small pure white beluga whales; more California sea lions and adorable seals; and an African penguin colony where birds are identified by colored wing markers. I was actually very impressed with the presence and knowledge of staff onsite, who are clearly scientists with a true passion for biology and conservation. It definitely doesn't have that theme park vibe of SeaWorld, because yeah, I saw Blackfish...

If it weren't for Raffi, would anyone know what this is? || Belugas at Mystic Aquarium

The aquarium is a little over a mile from the waterfront, the main town, and the Seaport museum. I was afraid that there would be no parking in town, as if every Connecticut child between the ages of 2 and 13 begs their parents to take them to an old wooden ship yard on summer Saturdays...Anyway, we walked the 20 or so minutes to the Seaport, realized we weren't going to pay the $25 to enter and wander around yesteryear, so continued walking another 20 or so minutes (oh yeah, it was 4 in the afternoon and about 91 degrees) to bustling downtown Mystic. On the way, we walked by about seven vastly empty parking lots.

The little downtown waterfront of Mystic - the part that has at least moved into the 20th century, if not the 21st - could be swapped out with Newport, Rhode Island or what I imagine Cape Cod to look like without much notice. There are the typical New England preppy clothing boutiques, art galleries, fudge shops, and specialty soap stores. However, since Mystic does have a history of being a hard-scrabble maritime port city, there are some more unique relics, like a "maritime consignment shop" that sold used buoys and cracked wooden oars and barnacle-covered crab pots. There's a working drawbridge  where a waterway to the ocean crosses the main street perpendicularly. Luxury yachts along with the tall wooden masts of historic whaling ships can halt the flow of foot traffic Many people also walk up to the obligatory Mystic Pizza - if you're a little older (or a little more cultured) than I am, you may remember a 1988 coming-of-age drama of the same name, set at this otherwise non-descript pizza parlor. Now, along with sticky tables and red plastic pepsi cups, the parlor makes most of its business selling t-shirts, posters, and the like from die-hard fans of Julia Roberts.

Rosé and Oysters || S&P Oyster Co.

If the salty waterfront air makes you crave something a little more refined than pizza, there are several seafood spots boasting their fresh catches of the day. We sidled up to a patio table at S&P Oyster Co., right before the town drawbridge, for some much needed rosé and oysters to cool is down from the hot walk into town. With a flower-filled patio and view of the passing boats, S&P is a perfect late afternoon spot (or a pricey dinner if you're prepared for it).

After checking out the used bookstores and contemplating a quick kayak rental, it was time to head back to the car. Luckily, the way back always feels a little quicker, and we strolled through the cheesy "olde Mystick Village" to check out candles, nautical art prints, bath salts, and artisan olive oils on the way before getting on our late evening way.

Mystic isn't a rowdy party town like Newport and isn't the best place to lay out in the sand, but if you're in the mood for a little history and a little culture you don't want to overlook it as a quick day away from the oppressive heat of the city.