We
left Essex at about 9:00AM on the way east. We haven't chosen a destination
yet; it all depends on whether we can get a mooring at Stonington. If not, we
may duck in at Noank, or even go up river to Mystic. The forecast is not that
great for Thursday, so we may take a weather day. Yes, we do sometimes
elect not to travel in the rain. Thanks again to Kirsten, now back at school,
for joining us last night. It's great to visit with friends and relatives while
on vacation.
The weather is clear, cool, but the breeze is light; it is supposed to pick up later. We're approaching New London now, and wondering is we'll see the annual submarine. Actually, we saw one tied up at The Earl, just after the 4th of July. It doesn't count unless it's coming after you, though.
Well, no
mooring in Stonington, so we put in to Noank, just at the mouth of the Mystic
river. We'll probably take a cab into town for the rest of the afternoon. The
weather turned cool, and there are sprinkles, as the weather voice calls
them. Funny, this is the exact same weather we had here last year! The weather
is hard to figure for tomorrow, so we'll wait and see. It will either be off
to points east, or off to the Mystic Seaport Museum. Not bad either way. 
We'll probably have yet another off boat dinner, perhaps at Abbot's (on
the left), or perhaps in town. You may remember Abbots from the film Mystic
Pizza (actually filmed in Stonington), which featured a scene at Abbot's.
Abbot's Restaurant is about as well known in these parts as any of the local
seafood joints are. The Noank Shipyard (where we've picked up a mooring for
the night) has a local restaurant called Costello's. You figure it out.
We wound
up staying in Noank; it is a charming small town. We were a bit confused by
the street signs which dotted Pearl Street (a small, 2 lane road running past
the waterfront, and many lovely homes dating from the mid 19th century). Rather
than being some other commentary or command, this sign warns of one of the dozens
of giant speed bumps which have been recently installed on the street. Signs
in home and business windows attest to a rash of speeding which has, apparently,
become quite a local issue. With the town speed limit being 15 MPH, and Pearl
Street having a posted speed of 20 MPH, we wondered what constituted speeding.
However, while walking on another of the towns small, but main streets, we were
treated to a taste of local driving. Speed humps may not be such a bad idea.
Well, for food, we skipped Abbot's and Costello's, didn't make it into Mystic, but walked over to a place called the Seahorse Tavern. This local bar (next to Spicer's marina), with a plain, but nautical family type dining room serves some of the most interesting food in the area. Marion had an Open Faced Ravioli, which was a stew of veal meatballs, mozzarella, tomatoes and mushrooms in a rich sauce, with a pasta sheet on top. I had a plate of grilled shrimp over linguini in a sun dried tomato vinaigrette, with grilled radiccio and fennel. As I said, not the food you'd expect in Noank.
We
rushed back to make the last (8:00PM) launch, glad we stayed at the Shipyard,
as the other local marina stopped running launches at 5) and were back on board
before the light gave out. The sky is clearing, but they promise a lousy day
tomorrow. We'll see.