Sunday Doings and Pictures from Mystic Seaport

How is your Sunday going?  Mine has been quiet so far, which is fine.  The Tim is at work, so the kitties and I are having a lazy Sunday.  This morning I got the Boston Baked Beans going in the crockpot, and I am really hoping they will end up tasting as good as they smell!  And of course, there's the usual laundry, bill-paying, and cleaning up that will happen, but on my own schedule rather than on someone else's and that is one of the best things about Sundays on your own.

I'm also going to be finishing the second sock of a pair I started during our vacation.   Which is surprising, even to me.  Never before have I knit a pair of socks so quickly.  A show-and-tell post is in the near future.  I'll likely work on them while I watch the Pittsburgh Steelers-Philadelphia Eagles football game later.  Or, as they say in their respective towns, the Stillers vs. the Iggles ...

I finally have some vacation pictures to share.  I realized as I was getting things organized, that The Tim took a whole lot more pics on his camera.  I'll see if I can swipe some of those, but these will at least give you a good idea of things.

Our very first stop was Mystic Seaport, in Connecticut.  The Tim had gone on his own for a long weekend a few years back, and wanted to go again.  I have wanted to go since I saw a couple of pictures in my 4th grade geography textbook!  Fortunately, it did not disappoint.

Though the drive up was overcast, and somewhat warm and humid, shortly after we arrived, a storm front moved through, and within half an hour, the temperature was down, the humidity gone, and the sky was perfect.  We spent the better part of the day at Mystic Seaport, but we also had a great time walking around the little town, crossing the drawbridge and getting to see it raised and lowered, and walking through a food festival.  The Tim spotted Mystic River Yarns - YAY!!  That will be part of its own post, but I can say it was a lovely shop.

So here are a few pictures.

I adore lighthouses.  They had a really cool little movie screen inside this one, with a 15-minute film about the history of lighthouses and lighthouse lights.  

The harbor.

We toured  a couple of historic ships.

 A modern sailboat passing by.

 I am always amazed that humans climbed up on the masts to adjust sails, check to see what might be ahead, etc.  Fascinating and dangerous.

On board - the little "house" there leads down to the quarters for the captain and the crew.

They also had an exhibit showing how the the rope cables on the ships were made, which I thought was crazy interesting.

 It all starts on bobbins ...

 then each bobbin has to be threaded through one of these holes ...

 which then go through this ...

and then go through these dividers and get twisted into rope cables before ...

they are finally twisted into HUGE rope cables for the ships.  These truly were huge and I really liked this exhibit because frankly I'd never appreciated a) what was involved in making even basic rope, and b) the way it was able to be "automated" in the sense that machines could help with a lot of the backbreaking stuff.

After we left there we stopped at a lovely little restaurant for lunch, which was a seafood BLT and a local beer.  Both were wonderful, and our waiter didn't even flinch or make a face when we asked for our sandwiches without the bacon.  :-)

Then we walked around the food festival, over the bridge and to the little downtown area. Where we saw this.

The Tim was astounded that it was a real place! (I was just glad Julia Roberts wasn't there, since I can't stand her ...)

We agreed that we both want to go back to Mystic Seaport, and the little town sometime.  It's such a nice place, and since we were there in mid-September, there weren't crowds of people.  I'm not so sure I would enjoy being there in the summer!

I would not, however, mind being there again right now ... ;-)

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday, and hopefully this week will be good to all of us.