Daytripping Through New England with The Dirty Housewife: Mystic CT

Mini Vacations and Day trips are the perfect way to be tourists in your own backyard. No matter where you live, I am sure there are interesting places to see. I am not only the president of the DayTrip Society, but I am also a member. Okay, so there is no actual DayTrip "Society" so to speak, but that is what I like to call my family day trips. I am a transplant of New England by way of Atlanta and Delaware, and I am pretty sure I will call it home for the rest of my life. In the 7 years I have been here I have fallen madly, deeply in awe and love. There is no better place on earth for nature and Mother nature. All four Seasons to the extreme; mountains, oceans, lakes, culture, history... the list is endless, truly. I am still working my way through it all , surely to never see everything.

I am compiling a list of fun,breathtaking, cultural, and not so expensive things to do should you ever make your way here. This may also a great guide for the locals, I am always amazed to find a life long native who has never ventured through the back roads of Maine alllll the way to Bar Harbor and Acadia. I did it right when I serendipitously read the wrong directions from Hampton Beach. It was the real 'backroads' --12 hours of them, alone with my husband in a snow storm. The highway takes about 6 hours. Oh the beautiful , beautiful things we saw and did (you can read about that later). So get out there! Make your own DayTrip Society or follow along with mine through New England, and be sure to check out some of these places if you are ever in town.

Tonight's post is on Mystic Connecticut-the first place I ever found myself at in New England...




I fell in love with Mystic from watching the movie Mystic Pizza , the one that ironically had Julia Roberts ( an Atlanta native) as the star. The seaport filmed in the movie called to my soul with the rustic views, foggy days, and amazing foliage. Loved the story too! When we went, we stayed overnight and as soon as the sun was up, I was out walking in the crisp February sunrise over the drawbridge. I walked everywhere( it is not very big ) , all over the piers and ports, through the small town and had coffee at a quaint little coffee shop. At the end of town is Mystic Pizza -an actual pizza shop that is covered in movie memorabilia. The pizza was not anything to die over, but fun all the same.


The Mystic Aquarium is priced right and is full of sea life exhibits and shows. It is home to the largest outdoor Beluga Whale exhibit in the U.S.


I think my favorite thing was Mystic Seaport , an actual 'living history Maritime museum' and is most noted for the incredible collection of sailing ships and boats. It captures the history of this seafaring village with over 15 vessels. And if you find your way there in June, be sure to check out the Seaport Sea Music Festival for all the best 'sea shanties'

the Charles Morgan

Mystic Connecticut is the best way of introduction to New England that I can think of, like the Van Morrison song "Into the Mystic" says...
I want to rock your gypsy soul
just like way back in the days of old
then magnificently we will float into the mystic