Mysterious Mystic

So what have we been up to lately? Well lucky Andy got a trip to New York during the week (Sunday night to Wednesday night). Andy: I caught the train down to NYC. 3 hours on the "ACELA Express" and I arrived right at New York Penn Street station. I then only had to walk 20 blocks to the motel. With the railway bridge in Connecticut out, all trains north from NYC were cancelled for the remainder of the week. NYC was awesome, but I'd forgotten how busy it was. I was doing a training course called "Train the Trainer". The people I met on the course, were from all over the USA. We even had a car salesman from Phoenix AZ, named Randy. He was hilarious! Needless to say, being the lone Aussie in the class had huge novelty value. Downside? It was a bit disturbing being away from the family, (I know you never thought you'd hear me say that, however Jen wasn't on her own in Australia) but the fact that Jen and I are with the same phone network, meant that all phone calls between us are free so we could talk lots. And it allowed me to speak to Lexie each night before she went to bed. Jen and Lexie survived the couple of days alone at home and Andy arrived back home safe and sound. With Jen and Lexie being at home all week we decided that we would go out and explore on the weekend. It was a beautiful summer weekend so we decided to take a drive down to Mystic, a historic little sea port just down across the border in Connecticut. Andy had been told about the town as he was being driven back from NYC. Jenny, being a Hunter, tried to take Andy on the back roads, but all the back roads turned out to be multi lane freeways anyway, so we didn't really see a lot on the trip down. After about an hour of driving we turned off at Charlestown Beach to try and see something of the coastline. It was actually a bit of a disappointment. Now that I think about it, the little town was actually quite nice and seemed like a nice place to be, but right down at the beach was another...community that was just ...strange...these ugly wooden, weathered houses all standing up on stilts, right in the middle of the scrub just behind the beach - yes they have a great proximity to the beach - but the direct surroundings were quite blagh! After a drive along the beach we continued on to Mystic for lunch. Mystic is an old seaport that still has the original docks, jetties, etc that are now a national heritage attraction. Our first impressions of Mystic.....think Berry, but built along a river. Same sort of touristy quaint little village. Nice, but all very aimed at tourists, and BUSY... traffic jams up and down the street. Since we weren't entirely sure where we were going we were through the town and out the other side of the traffic jam before we knew what we were doing so we decided to loop around and try again.....only problem was we didn't have a map of the area so of course we ended up getting lost. It was a beautiful drive that we ended up doing, but a bit hard to enjoy it when you don't know where you are and there's a screaming hungry child in the back seat. Luckily we managed to find our way back to the I-95 and headed back into Mystic. After a quick lunch in a little bar we headed into the main part of Mystic and took a bit of a walk around town. We couldn't get near the Old Mystic Seaport, as we chose the one weekend that the town was hosting the "17th Annual Wooden Boat Show", which accounted for the masses of people. The town is very pretty, but it was also boiling hot so we didn't get too far. As we headed back out of town we got stuck at the bridge over the river. It was a raising bridge with the most amazing counterweights. And yes before you ask, the local pizza parlour is called "Mystic Pizza". It's the same place as in the movie of the same name - they actually filmed at the pizza parlour. Andy took a photo of the sign with his camera phone, but he can't transfer it onto the computer at this stage, but will try in the future. It's Fourth of July coming up, not sure yet what to do. They've cancelled the fireworks in Providence which is a shame, we would have been able to see them from our apartment if they went ahead with them. The reason why? The launch site (Capitol Hill) is now too close to the apartment complexes that have recently been built in the area. They actually knew about this months ago but only chose to reveal it to the public today - the natives are quite upset about it. And did you know that Massachusetts and Rhode Island are two of the five US states in which all forms of public fireworks are illegal? You can watch displays put on by professionals, but you can't possess your own. Nope, not kidding! If you want to let off your own fireworks, then you have to go south into Connecticut or north into New Hampshire. We might head north this weekend - depending on what the traffic is like and what we want to do. Only three other things to say. (1) The NY Yankees lost to the Texas Rangers - Jack; Uncle Andy is sure he will be hearing rude things from you soon, or at least from your father. (2) Andy was recently informed (by a reliable source - you know who you are!) of the fabled "Hamburger Helper" aisle in the supermarket over here. After many fruitless hours of searching, he is still unable to find it. He's beginning to think it's a myth - or does he have to pull on the 3rd cereal box on the left to open the Indiana Jones-like secret passage to the fabled "Aisle of the Lost Hamburger Helper"? Do tell?? (3) Just one word: "QUEENSLANDER!!"