Northeast Adventure Part Four

Vickie and I went to Stonington where we toured The Old Lighthouse Museum.

   

The museum is small but had some interesting displays.  Here is a display of tools used to cut blocks of ice.  

Here are the lighthouses of Long Island Sound.  You can push a button on one of the display boards and the location of that lighthouse will light up.

We were able to climb up to the dome in the lighthouse on this staircase and ladder.

Our observation platform

The view was wonderful from the top.

Out on the point was this monument.

Birds drying their wings on the rocks.

Another monument to the men who defended Stonington on August 10, 1814.

We had a very nice lunch on the deck of this restaurant.

This was our view while eating.

They have some very large fishing vessels that can do some serious fishing.

After our ice cream social, we had a white elephant drawing and we had a lot of laughs.

 

On our last day, several of us went to Mystic Pizza for lunch.  This is the pizza restaurant made famous by the 1980's movie starring Julia Roberts.  It's a pretty good movie for a chick flick.

 

After lunch, the ladies went looking into the shops while us guys waited. 

We got to watch the historic Mystic drawbridge open.  It's a beautiful structure to this construction guy. 

 The rally ended and we bid everyone farewell and we headed to Cambridge, Maryland to meet with family members.  

Northeast Adventure Part Three

We visited a couple of local wineries with George and Rosetta.   This vineyard is right on the water.

That's Long Island Sound in the background.  

It was a pretty drive to the second vineyard, Stonington Vineyards.

These wineries are much smaller than others we have visited but the people are just as friendly.  Here we are after our tasting.  We limit ourselves to two wineries a day.  After that, they all run together.

They have a nice patio but it was raining so we stayed inside. 

The next day, we all gathered to take a lighthouse tour of Long Island Sound.  

We had a two and a half hour tour on this jet boat.  

While we were waiting, we watched them loading the ferry to Greenport, Long Island.  It can hold one hundred cars and one thousand passengers. 

This is the ferry to Fishers Island.  This is a very busy port.  

Here are a few of us.  We were scattered around different decks. 

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It was a bit hazy but a beautiful day for a cruise.  We had a narrator on the boat that gave us a history of the lighthouses.

After the boat trip, Vickie and George wanted lobster so we headed to Abbott's

No liquor is served so people bring their own beverages and eat lobster at the picnic tables.

This was our view of the harbor.

We all gathered around the campfire that evening.  It turned out to be a great day with a great group of people.

On Sunday morning, we had a community breakfast.  There was a lot of food as usual and everyone had their fill.

Several of the Northerners in our group wanted Vickie to make grits.  They were a big hit.

A nice relaxing Sunday morning.

After breakfast, several of us visited The Submarine Force Library and Museum.  Here, we toured the USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine. 

This is a depiction of the relative size of the first submarines and the size of the latest.   

Here is a model of the Bushnell Turtle, one of the first submarines

It was used to attach explosive charges to British ships during the war for independence.

The museum wouldn't be complete without Jules Verne's version of the Nautilus

Boys playing make believe.

And Vickie, too.

It was very interesting to see the tight quarters the ninety men lived in.  It was too close and crowded with tourists to take photos in the boat.  

The screws from the Nautilus. 

More to come.