In NYC, When We Go Out to Pizza, We Go to Connecticut
In returning to my tradition of writing past due posts, it is now time to show a few pictures of my Labor Day activities. Already knowing that I would have that Monday off (per usual), I wanted to do something but I was most likely going to just pretend to clean my room. That is, until our friend decided that we needed to get out of the city and take a little road trip up the coast of Connecticut. The planted seed immediately sprouted and the roommates and I went online to rent a car and look up maps to travel to Mystic, CT. Monday morning arrived and we were rearing to go...except for our friend who suggested the trip. He stayed home. No one complained about that. It's hard to play girlie games like MASH and Soul Mate when a boy is present.

The trip started off on the subway, next a bus, and after that a rental car at LaGuardia Airport. Like so many other road trips this summer, I was the designated driver.

FYI, when you live in NYC and want to rent a car Leave the Island! Rental cars are $100 cheaper in the buroughs. Boroughs. Whatevs.

Growing up in the West Coast...aka the Land of Really Big States, it is really curious that one can drive through three, count 'em, three states in a matter of a few hours. We left our house around eight and arrived in Mystic for lunch. And we took the slow road on Route 1 to see the old, pretty Connecticut homes. (How I miss a well-manicured yard!) We ended the day with a jaunt to Rhode Island for dinner.

Mystic, CT is a historic town, even though many of you may only know about the town thanks to Julia Robert's breakthough film Mystic Pizza. There really is a pizza place called Mystic Pizza, and of course that is where we went to eat lunch.

There was a lengthy discussion about whic pizza toppings to consume because we have a vegetarian (me) and a picky eater to consider. I am not sure why the discussion took so long as the results were pretty clear: plain cheese for the dietary challenged, and mushroom/pepperoni for the others.

This roomy took the most, and best pictures.

After our hearty meal, we checked out the town. It had all the touristy knick-knack shops one could expect for the small sea-sidey town. My favorite store was the one with the shoplady who let me try on the vintage rings. (A tip to future suitors: a vintage ring beats a Tiffany's any day.)

What charming Connecticut town doesn't have a little white church building?

The drawbridge. I don't have much more to say about it...but it did remind me a little of the drawbridge in the U district of Seattle. And the one in the Fremont area.

After Mystic, we hit the road to Old Stonington to play on the beach.

And look for Hermit Crabs.

This beach kicks the beaches in Long Island's trash. Did that make any sense?

The reason we went to Old Stonington was to see the lighthouse.

That is now a museum.

We just had enough time to head to Rhode Island for dinner. We wanted to go to the campus of Brown University, but we spent most of our day in Mystic. After a filling dinner in a 50's themed diner, we hit the road for the four hour trip back to the city. To pass the time, we played those girlies games. I would tell you who I married in MASH...but I just can't remember...