Welcome to Rhode Island?!?

We are way behind in getting travel posts published this summer because we're having too much fun traveling! So we won't be confused about when each "wandering" happened, we'll start each blog with its actual date.

July 27, 2022

We stayed in our site with electricity in Connecticut until around noon, before we made the 35-mile trip to our next camping destination. The motor home drives aren't far in these tiny states in the northeast! We stayed hooked up to electricity longer than usual because we are heading to our no-hook-up site at a Rhode Island state park. So our short drive today took us over another state line as we were welcomed to "Discover Beautiful Rhode Island." This is another new state for the motor home.

We've been traveling for seven and a half years, so we thought we were pretty knowledgeable of different state park systems. But the woman at the Rhode Island state park entrance soon determined we were ignorant. We are staying at Burlingame State Park, and paying dearly for that privilege. Knowing that we only have a place to park--no water, no sewer, and no electricity--we were shocked to find that the price was $36 per night. They doubled the usual $18 price because we are from out-of-state. Then they added on a $8.75 transaction fee. Then they charged us an extra $12 for our pickup because it is a vehicle with a separate steering wheel so it is not included in our camping fee. They even charge for taking showers at the bathrooms inside the campground. All total, our two night stay at this state park cost $92.75--with no hookups! We don't feel very welcome! 

Besides that, at most state parks where we have stayed in the last seven years, paying for a campsite allows you to explore the state park. Not in Rhode Island. The clerk at the desk seemed to think that everyone should know that we are staying at Burlingame State Campground, but we would have to pay another entrance fee to go to Burlingame State Park. We would also have to pay another $20 entrance fee per car ($40 per car on weekends) to go to the Rhode Island State Park Beach down the road. Wow! We're not feeling welcome at all here in Rhode Island!

We got a peek at one of the state beaches to see that they were not crowded, but were lined with sea weed this afternoon.

We were hoping for a walk on the beach this evening, so we stopped by the town welcome center down the road. Finally, we felt welcomed into our new state! Even though it was getting close to closing time, the woman working at the Charlestown Visitor Center was very pleasant and gave us good advice. She directed us to the city-owned park down the road that is free for everyone to enjoy--even out-of-staters! We headed to the Ninigret City Park that is tied to the salt water pond in the Ninigret wildlife area. After our mosquito fiasco yesterday, we are a little shy about going to another wildlife area, but this one was bug free. We found this green heron wading in the salty wetlands in the wildlife area.

At the city park we also found this curious piece of asphalt with large numbers painted on it. That's because this was once a training runway for pilots before they headed out for the South Pacific during World War II. President George H.W. Bush was one of those soldiers stationed here, and he named his plane "Barbara" after a girl he was dating. That girl would later become his wife and First Lady.

The other good advice we got at the Charlestown Welcome Center was that all the area beaches turn into free beaches in the evening. The Charlestown City Beach that would charge us $12 earlier, became free at 5:00 p.m. Likewise, state beaches stop charging admission at 6:00 p.m. So we still got our free walk on the beach after all.

We found absolutely no shells on the beach, but that didn't keep Denisa from her usual tradition of making beach art.

She used strips of sea weed anchored by rocks to spell out "Charles" for this city-owned Charlestown beach.

The waves were rolling this evening as the tide was coming in during our walk.

Remember that salt pond that we visited earlier today at the wildlife area? It is fed from ocean water that enters through a breach in the sea wall. We walked a mile to the breach walls, that are lined with large boulders.

From here, the salt water continues all the way into the Ninigret wildlife management area. We saw the campground beside this breach wall, and all the sites were filled.

Those water-side camping spots have views of the breach and the wild roses,

and might be visited by a beach bunny.

But as we looked in-land, we saw that most of the RVs crowded into this little state campground were actually far from the water.

The tide is coming up. As we walked back towards our parking spot, we saw that Denisa's sea grass artwork had already been erased by the ocean.

It was an interesting first day in this state of Rhode Island. While we question how welcome we feel, it turned out to be a good day here in the tiniest state.

Our wonderful (and terrible) Mystic, Connecticut Adventures

We are way behind in getting travel posts published this summer because we're having too much fun traveling! So we won't be confused about when each "wandering" happened, we'll start each blog with its actual date.

July 26, 2022

After yesterday's rain, we had beautiful weather for our trip further east down the coast of Connecticut today. Even though our destination is Mystic, Connecticut, our first stop is in the tiny hamlet of Stonington, where the beautiful hydrangeas are at their peak bloom. Denisa loves the shades of purple and blue surrounding this old stone building.

That just isn't any old building, it's the Stonington Lighthouse. We've found another one!

It was a very nice morning to enjoy the sea views here at Stonington Point. From this point we could see parts of three different states--Rhode Island, Connecticut, and New York.

We could also see another lighthouse in the water. What a great two lighthouse stop!

We enjoyed watching this cormorant, spreading out to dry his wings on one of the islands in front of us.

We were excited to find free parking at Stonington Point. Then we found out that it would cost $10 each if we wanted to go into the tiny patch of sand called DuBois Beach that was adjacent to the parking lot. No thanks!

We drove 5 miles to make another stop on our way to Mystic, Connecticut. This one was at the Barn Island Wildlife Management Area. The 2.9-mile bike ride was well-reviewed, and it started with views across the wetlands towards the coast. Notice that Denisa is smiling at this point.

That was the last smile, as we then headed into the woods. A half-mile into the trip we noticed a few mosquitoes, so we stopped to spray our hats with bug spray. In another half-mile we stopped to spray our legs and arms--and even faces. We didn't know at the time, but these woods are home to a voracious swarm of mosquitoes. We were half-way into the ride when they started swarming us so badly that it was hard to see. It was terrible!

It could have been a delightful ride through the woods. But instead, we were flailing our arms trying to beat off the mosquitoes while attempting to miss the rocks and trees along the path.

We continued onward, because we were closer to the exit if we went ahead instead of turning back. We soon found this path isn't well-maintained, with thorny brambles stretching over the trail and scratching us. Now that we are bleeding, the mosquitoes have stepped up their ballistic attacks and it got worse! They were now kamikaze flying machines attacking us from all directions.

Those brambles have thorns that are designed to break off when they are embedded in flesh. This is a vicious bike ride! We couldn't wait until we got back to the pickup, and rushed to get inside the cab. Whew, what a terrible adventure! We're calling it the worst.bike.ride.EVER!

We had mosquito bites on our hands, behind our ears, and on our arms. The only good thing about our stop at this wildlife area is the flora. Before the mosquito attacks, we stopped to take a picture of one of the lovely turk's cap lilies.

We also tasted the ripe berries along the trail before we entered the woods.

Back on the road, our next stop is our destination for the day--the lovely little tourist town of Mystic, Connecticut. This town is not a well-kept secret, as all the on-street parking was full and the traffic was bumper-to-bumper going down Main Street.

After losing all that blood to the mosquitoes, we need some lunch! So we got in line for a table at the most famous restaurant in town--Mystic Pizza. When a fellow diner offered to take our picture together, we had hoped that they would include the cafe's sign right over our heads.

We had to take the picture ourselves to get the sign for Mystic Pizza--a slice of heaven.

It only took 10 minutes to get a table. Inside, the walls are decorated with pictures and memorabilia from the Julia Robert's movie filmed right here in 1988. Thirty-four years later, the movie "Mystic Pizza" is still bringing fans to eat the pizza made famous by the waitress played by Julia Roberts.

Among the memorabilia on the walls is a screen, showing the movie non-stop all day long.

This is our second pizza of the week, and we ate every bite of this Greek-style-salty-crisp-crust-with-its-signature-sweet-tomato-sauce pizza.

A walk down Main Street brought us to the bridge over the Mystic River. Built in 1922, this is a bascule bridge. Bascule is a new word for us, and it is French for "seesaw." That's because this 660-ton bridge is able to open it's 85-foot span like a seesaw.

This motion is made possible because of the two 230-ton concrete weights that will counterbalance this giant seesaw.

After all that detailed engineering description, it's good to know that Denisa is really only interested in the beautiful lilies beside that bridge.

We took a walk further along the river, for views of the tall mast ships that harbor here at Mystic Seaport. We are actually on a mission to see if we can catch a free glance of some of the more famous ships at the pricey Seaport Museum.

While many of Connecticut's museums are free to Connecticut residents this summer, again we see that this state doesn't share well with others. It would cost us $54 to go to the museum.

On our walk down the river, we watched as a man launched his kayak into the river. What a great idea! So we inflated our kayak, and set sail on a Mystic River adventure.

It was fun rowing right beside the tall ships in the harbor.

We headed to the bascule bridge, to get a view of it from the water.

At exactly 40 minutes past each hour, the siren goes off to clear the bridge, and then those counter-balanced weights help to lift one end.

The ducks living on the river have seen this process so many times that they are completely ignoring it.

But we were amazed to watch the process up close. When the bridge was completely up, the waiting tall vessels started parading through the opening.

We continued watching from our perch on the water, until the bridge began to close.

When it was completely closed, we were still able to row our tiny kayak under.

That brought us deeper into the harbor, where boats were parked on both sides for as far as we could see. Up ahead, the train bridge had also just swung open. You can see the train tracks on both the left and right side of the picture below. When the bridge in the middle rotates on its center pivot, it will once again connect the train tracks together.

But for now the bridge is rotated to its open position so vessels like the red-hulled boat on the left can pass into the Mystic Harbor. We floated in the harbor for quite a while, hoping to watch the bridge pivot back in place, but it obviously wasn't time for another train to pass through Mystic yet.

So we headed back under the bascule bridge, and paddled toward the Seaport Museum. What a great kayak trip this is! It's 74 degrees with almost no wind--a perfect day to be on the water.

We stopped close to this rusty old ship that was parked in a far section of the harbor.

As we floated closer, we found that this was actually the living quarters of students that work at the museum.

Even though we couldn't walk along the streets of the museum, we still got water-side views of the old town shops.

The crown jewel of the museum is the Charles W. Morgan, a square-rigged whale boat built in 1841.

It is part of the floating collection of National Historic Landmark vessels here at the seaport. This is the last wooden whaling ship still afloat.

We also floated right beside this firefighting boat that was docked nearby.

As we rounded the curve near the museum, we saw that the sailboat class had just lifted the sails of the fleet of boats docked here.

It was fun to row beside that line of boats, and catch the colorful reflection of the sails on the water of the Mystic River.

As we waited for the sailboat students to launch, a tour group of four little boats puttered by. They looked a little like golf carts on the water, as their leader took them beside some of the big boats and yelled descriptions to the tourists.

With that distraction gone, the students started their timid launches from the dock. It made a colorful picture as the boats used the wind to take them out into the harbor. Instructors in motor boats were available to give directions on how to turn those sails so that they can all (hopefully) return to their launch site at the end of class.

The Mystic River has its own lighthouse, so of course Denisa needed to take a picture of it.

Beside the Seaport Museum is the Seaport Repair Facility. It looks like a new repair project is still shrink-wrapped outside the facility. We could row right beside its wooden hull to see that it is a beauty as well.

By this time, we had been on the Mystic River for three hours. It was a fun activity that we didn't even know was a possibility when we left home this morning. But we have the boat and the bikes with us in the pickup always, so we are flexible in adding adventures to our day when we find them. Some adventures turn out terribly--like our bicycle trip through the mosquito-filled forest. But more of our adventures turn out wonderfully--like our kayak trip through the wonders we found on the Mystic River.