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Mystic, Connecticut
I’m waiting for this storm to run out of rain
We’re back on the mainland today, and this page of the slideshow starts where I started on my second day of the road trip, at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut.
The last time I was at Mystic Seaport I was young, like still in grade school young. I’m sure it has changed significantly since then in terms of things to see and visitors services, but honestly, it felt the same as it did when I was there so many years ago. This is not a bad thing, and I enjoyed seeing the historic buildings and ships just as much as I remembered. Although this time there were a few differences. One was that Mystic Seaport was holding an antique car day, which was fine but it really screwed with the historical timeline. Another was that it was windy, really really windy, another effect from the storm just over the border. And this time a one armed man came up to me and thought I was his friend Mike, although in retrospect that could have either been some sort of espionage code word or maybe he was a one armed sea ghost who can not rest until he finds his friend Mike. There’s really no way of knowing which one of those totally realistic scenarios is the correct one.
I didn’t just come to Mystic to see old buildings, old ships, old cars and a ghost with one arm, I also went to see this new building by Connecticut firm Centerbrook from Centerbrook, Connecticut.
From Mystic, I drove right into Rhode Island and right into the weather. That stalled coastal storm off shore brought in a a heavy, steady cold rain and an off and on vicious wind that made being outdoors especially unpleasant. My general attitude toward traveling in the rain is to keep moving forward, because after you get wet you get dry. However it was just so unpleasant to be outside that I ended up keeping my plans (at least somewhat) in check. I had planned on spending the rest of the day wandering around Providence, a place I have been countless times if you count the Amtrak station, or zero times if you don’t. What I did see I liked, making me think that maybe one of the next times I’m on an Acela (or regional) train, maybe getting off in Providence on a better weather day might just be a good idea.
One great place to hide in Providence from all especially unpleasant weather was inside the terrific RISD Museum. RISD is the Rhode Island School of Design and is generally pronounced Riz-dee, as opposed to RISD. The collection was extensive and varied, and the museum surprising (in a good way) at almost every turn.
So if you can say that my previous propensity to avoid road trips is at the root of this slideshow (and you can most definitely say that), then WaterFire was the main driving force for its schedule. WaterFire takes place about once a month in downtown Providence and is held whether the weather was good or, like in this case, especially unpleasant. One advantage (or to be more accurate, the only advantage) of such especially unpleasant weather was that the crowd size was down. Nearby drunk locals told me it was only about ten percent of the normal amount of people showed up to see the water set on fire.
WaterFire is more than just bundles of wood in the river set ceremonially on fire, there’s also a street festival and (for some reason) there were also Robots on Fire, which was more of a bot battle than some sort of robotic burning man type thing.
As for WaterFire itself, it almost had a christmas/holiday vibe to it, something which makes more sense when you understand that its origins were at a First Night celebration. After the fires were all lit, the rain lifted a bit’ making the especially unpleasant weather only unpleasant, and walking along the riverfront paths and going from flame to flame to flame was even better than I hoped it would be.
By the next morning the rain had finally stopped and I was already headed to Newport, a place I had never been before. My first stop was one that came with my Newport Mansions All Access Pass, a garden called the Green Animals Topiary Garden, north of Newport on Narragansett Bay. The green animals part of Green Animals are topiaries, bushes turned into animals, spirals, arches and more that (as far as I can tell) do not come to life in a whimsical yet horrifying manner every time there’s a full moon.
I visited Newport in late September, which would generally be considered off season by most reasonable definitions. The advantages of visiting in off season are less crowds, while the disadvantage is that not quite everything will be open. In late afternoon it felt like I had the town all to myself, but in the mornings and early afternoons things were, well, different.
It turns out that while late September may be off season by most reasonable definitions, it’s the start of high season for fall cruises and the town was absolutely inundated, especially in the morning. The free #67 bus was my first taste of this madness. Buses were full and standing room only- which in and of itself is fine- but the problem was that none of those cruise people ever got off the damn bus. They would just gum up the system like crazy until around 3pm when they’d all scurry back to their boats. It was a real, noticeable experience throughout the town, not only on the free #67 bus but also at the mansions, which I would either have almost completely to myself or be trapped in a tidal wave of slow moving tour bus or cruise excursion people.
It rained again on me, a last gasp of the same damn coastal storm that has been following me since this entire trip so far. But not all is lost. The weather was starting to get better, and the view of the bridge from my surprisingly nice hotel room even hints at the possibility of seeing some actual sun at some point. Suddenly here in Newport, anything seems possible.
