Mystic Escape

By Thomas Morrone, CFP®, CPA

Over the years, we have visited the Mystic area numerous times. When our children were younger, we loaded everyone in the car and would do the family day trip to the aquarium. After the visit to the aquarium, we would take the kids to visit the village shops that were adjacent to the aquarium. There was always something interesting to look at and yummy to eat.  Cathy and I have done many day trips to the quaint main street of Mystic and enjoyed going in and out of all the little shops and boutiques that line the street right near the Mystic River. Again, there was lots to see and many wonderful food options and items to satisfy the sweet tooth were always abundantly available.  We usually would spend the better part of the day, have a nice lunch, and then head home. It was about an hour drive, so we did not feel the need to stay overnight. Recently, we decided to do something different.

For our anniversary this July, we were undecided at what to do or where to go. We had originally planned to go into NYC for a couple of nights but 90 plus degree temperatures with high humidity in the forecast made us rethink that destination. On short notice, room availability options were challenging or extremely expensive because of prime-time rates. Somehow, Mystic came up. A quick search on the internet and we had a room reserved for one night at the Inn at Mystic. The day of our overnighter, we were up early, had some breakfast and stopped at Common Grounds in the center of Branford to get coffee for the ride. We were off for a quick burst to Mystic.

Having been there so many times before, we were very familiar with the area and were using the room at the Inn as a base and we were going to explore the area. The CT and RI shoreline offers so many places to experience. We started our exploration in Noank to get lobster rolls at Costello’s. It is a great little spot on a marina that did not disappoint. I do have an attraction to lobster rolls as I have written about recently. Costello’s needs to be added to my list. The sister restaurant, Abbot’s, is right next door, was our original destination, but it was closed, and Costello’s worked out just fine. Now with a full belly, we were off to Weekapaug, RI which was less than 30 minutes away. We had never been to this part of RI and we were very pleasantly surprised. Beautiful homes dotted the shoreline as we drove to the Weekapaug Inn to have a mid afternoon cocktail. Sitting on a beautiful covered porch, we overlooked a large salt pond that opened to the ocean. It was very picturesque, and we agreed that it was our first time in Weekapaug, but it would not be our last.

We were on the move back to Mystic but took the scenic drive along the shoreline and stopped in Watch Hill. This is another beautiful area with beautiful homes alone the coast and a little village with some fun things to do. For the little ones, there is old fashioned carousel to ride. We stood eating our ice cream and watched the flying horses for a few minutes, stopped in a few shops and then we were on the move again. We went back to Mystic and relaxed for a little while and then went to the restaurant on the property for dinner. It was nice to be able to walk across the parking lot to the restaurant and not have to drive and battle for a parking spot in town. We sat on the deck of the restaurant overlooking the river and had a wonderful dinner. It was very relaxing and so very enjoyable. It was even nicer that we only had to walk across the parking lot to get back to the room. It was so stress free.

We had talked about going to Block Island the next day but decided to just head home. Even though it was one night, it felt like we “got away”. Thanks to Paul and Jill for the surprise of paying for the room that we were unaware of until we arrived home. Life is Good! 

Until the Next Tom’s Take!………………….. 

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