September 21, 2024 - September 27, 2024 -- Mystic KOA
Written By: Wendy
When we arrived at the Mystic KOA campground, there were gray low hanging clouds with a light drizzle. It felt very fitting for fall in a New England coastal town. I quickly changed our dinner plans from quinoa bowls to a sweet potato, kale, and sausage soup to match the weather. Shortly after arriving, Scott went to go pick up his parents from the airport. Grammie and Grandpa flew in to spend 5 days with us in Mystic, and the kids were so excited to see their grandparents. After our cozy soup dinner (very much literally cozy as all 6 of us were crammed around our small table in our tiny trailer) and putting the kids to bed, we invited Scott's parents over to our "clam living room" to watch Mystic Pizza. I mean we had to watch it, right?! Now some of you that aren't as familiar with the travel world, might be asking, what exactly is a "clam living room?" Good question! Our trailer, especially being on the smaller side for a fulltime travel family, does not have a lot of space. One way we learned about early on to add some "indoor square footage" is to get a Clam tent (or other brand). Our tent is 12 X 12 and makes a considerable difference in our comfort and ease of living when we have the space and time to set it up. We use ours as a flex room, essentially, and we even take the time to decorate it to make it feel all the more homey. We have an outdoor carpet we lay down, lights we string along the frame on top, a candle with a warming scent, and fake plants all to bring together the ambiance. In the mornings, it's used as a yoga or workout room, then it turns into mine or Scott's office to work in. In the late afternoon, new toys are usually placed in there as a place for the kids to play in while we cook dinner, and after bedtime, it turns into our living room, complete with our newly bought small portable TV and propane fire pit to heat it. Suffice to say, if you are going to travel for an extended period of time, a large sturdy tent is a must! But I digress, Scott's parent's were thoroughly impressed with the warmth and coziness of our clam, and we all enjoyed watching the locally inspired movie.
The next morning, with visions of Mystic Pizza still dancing in our heads, we were excited to set out and explore downtown Mystic. I had heard it was a must see quaint New England town that felt like Stars Hollow (where are my other Gilmore Girls fans?!). It was one of the places that I was most excited to go to on our East Coast fall tour, and luckily it did not disappoint. In fact, it exceeded my expectations. We spent a lazy day, walking all around the adorable town, popping in and out of shops, and grabbing local bites to eat. One of the main highlights was watching the drawbridge raise every hour and seeing the big sailboats glide by. The kids, and all of us actually, were mesmerized, and we watched it 3 times on that first day.
One day, we took a short drive out to the Rhode Island coast to the quaint neighborhood of Watch Hill. We went to go see Watch Hill Lighthouse, per request from Grammie. In order to get to the lighthouse, we had to walk down a long windy street along the ocean that was pedestrian only, unless you had the privilege of owning a house on that street. I say had the privilege to own a house, but really I mean own a mansion, because "house" is not really an accurate description for the dwellings on that street. They were not the gaudy in your face New Jersey mansions that we had seen the previous month. Oh no no no, these were old money mansions. Very tastefully done and all so unique. They were the most adorable mansions I've ever seen, if you can call mansions adorable. In fact, Taylor Swift has a mansion on that road! I dreamed about what I different life I could live if I had a mansion on that road while the kids hopped from rock to rock with a charming lighthouse and thunderous ocean waves crashing behind them with low gray clouds overhead to make the day feel all the more cozy and intimate. Although I was not living in one of those adorable mansions and probably never would, I still took a minute to feel immensely grateful for even just being here with my kids and husband and in-laws on this random September Monday instead of in an office drowning in a job. And this was just one stop along the way! What a life.
Another day was spent celebrating Caroline's third birthday with her grandparents. It was only a few days away, and they wanted to celebrate with her in person before they left. We went to the Mystic Seaport Museum. This, again, much exceeded all our expectations. Inside the museum complex, they had brought in old buildings to re-create the feel of the old sea town that Mystic used to be 100+ years ago. I am an absolute history nerd, and I delightfully flitted from one building to the next, peeking into the past to see a blacksmith or a tincture house or a one room schoolhouse. We were also able to climb aboard the Charles W. Morgan, an old whaling ship that was built in 1841. On top of all that, one of the houses was exclusively dedicated to kids with several fishing and seaport activities that our kids enjoyed for hours. We topped off her birthday celebrations with pizza from Mystic Pizza, which was surprisingly actually very delicious and dessert from Sift, one of the best bakeries I've ever been to (and I have been to A LOT of bakeries).
My highlight of our time in Mystic, though, was the date night that Scott and I had when the grandparents graciously offered to watch the kids for a night. They were staying at one of the cabins in the KOA campground that had bunk beds in it. The kids were very excited to get to spend the night in Grammie and Grandpa's cabin in their very own bunk beds, so we took the opportunity to see Mystic at night. We had a tasty seafood dinner and then went on a ghost tour. I love ghost tours. I do not like scary movies or death or thinking about dying or gore, but gosh do I love a good ghost tour! Confusing, right? I know, but ghost tours give such an imitate and interesting historical tour of the area. You get to hear stories about the actual people that lived there and often come to understand some of the broader historical contexts that shaped the town. Once again, the Mystic ghost tour, put on by Seaside Shadows, did not disappoint. I was completely engulfed in the stories our guide told and learned about the local history, like that the first Native American massacre happened in Mystic, which is probably why it is so haunted. The tour ended at the oldest standing building in Mystic, built in 1756. Our guide said that there was a pub in the basement that had live music, good drinks, and if you were lucky, you might catch a glimpse of one or two of the ghosts that haunt the building. Since the kids were sleeping at Grammie and Grandpa's and we therefore had no curfew, we seized the opportunity to get a few nightcaps. When we stepped into the pub, it was like we were stepping back in time by a few hundred years. The walls were logs with white plaster in between. The ceilings were low with exposed beams. The room was small but somehow they managed to squeeze in a bar, long tavern style tables, and a small area for the live musician playing laid back guitar covers. It felt like we stepped into Gaston's salon (ok, now where are my Beauty and the Beast fans?!). After we had our drinks, one of which was named after Ada, the young ghost that was often sighted, we decided to end our lovely amazing date night as only a married couple with young children would: at the grocery store. That's right, we needed a couple things and it was a luxury for both of us to shop together, hand in hand, without kids screaming at us and grabbing random things off the shelves. What could be more romantic than that, right?
Before we left Connecticut, I handed out some freezer pies to the staff at the KOA. They were immensely grateful and equally surprised to be given free apple pies that were made with the apples that we had picked in New York a few weeks ago. It warmed by heart, as it always does, to brighten someone's day, even just with this small gesture of kindness. Then we said our good-byes and headed another iconic coastal New England location: Cape Cod.