Connecticut and Rhode Island

Being the planner that we are, we began to plot our course up through New England.  Originally, we were going to another park about an hour away from Kutztown, Pennsylvania, then to a Thousand Trails in Accord, NY, then to Lake George RV Resort (which very good reviews) and then down to Connecticut and then up the coast from there.  But we changed our minds and decided on a more direct course to Maine up the east coast and figured we could head back down the western side of New York and Pennsylvania on the way back south.

That’s the cool thing about full-timing:  we can change our minds where we want to go.

I had read very good reviews on another park recommended by Big Rigs Best Bets:  Aces High RV Park in East Lyme, Connecticut, and made reservations to stay there through the weekend.  After setting up, we decided to ride our bikes around the park to check it out.

Aces High is a very nice park and is well laid out. 

The sites are spaced further apart than you usually find in a private park and we had full hookups, including cable.  The park also had 2 fishing ponds surrounded by nice landscaping. 

On Saturday it was raining and I figured we would just be staying in and I would get caught up on some work or the blog.  But Chuck had a better suggestion:  let’s go somewhere!  When we had talked with Crystal and Grant earlier in the week, we asked if they knew of any places to visit in the Connecticut area.  Grant suggested Newport, Rhode Island, to go see all the big mansions on the beach, and Mystic, Connecticut, an old whaling village.  The Submarine Force Library and Museum, was another possibility (on our GPS) in Groton, Connecticut.

We drove through New London, Connecticut, first, and then on to the submarine museum.  It is amazing the really cool things you can do and go see that don’t cost anything.  The submarine museum at Groton, Connecticut, was one of them. 

When we first walked up to the museum, we came up to the USS George Washington, the first ballistic missile submarine.  They must have dug a very big hole for this submarine!  :)

We spent some time inside the museum reading and looking at the exhibits and then walked outside to the USS Nautilus,

an actual decommissioned submarine that is permanently docked.

We walked on top of the submarine…

… over to a sailor who welcomed you aboard and handed you an audio device you could listen to during the walking tour and then descended down a staircase (rather than a hatch) into the submarine.

I was a little nervous about going down into the submarine because I don’t like closed-in places.  Surprisingly, it didn’t bother me too much.  BUT, there is no way I could sleep in the tight quarters like these sailors had to do.

I thought showers in RVs were small!

And the hatches we walked through were a little tight too.

The officers’ dining room was fancy…

…and their bunks had a little more space between them.

The captain of the submarine had an actual bed – not a bunk.

“Up periscope!”

These guys drove the sub.

The sailors didn’t have just beans and cornbread either.  They had a full-time cook.

…and ice cream!!!

As we left the submarine, we visited for a few minutes with the sailor who greeted us when we came on board.  He was from Tennessee.  I think he was glad to hear some "Southern English" again.

Next we drove to Mystic, Connecticut, an old whaling village, which has now been converted to a tourist destination.  We were getting hungry and decided to try S&P Oyster Company for lunch.  We were seated where we had a view of Mystic harbor.

From our table, we could see the draw bridge…

…and the houses on the other side.

Chuck ordered S&P Oyster’s famous clam chowder and he was not disappointed.

Chuck said it was best clam chowder he has EVER had.  After lunch, we wanted to walk over to the Mystic Drawbridge Ice Cream shop for dessert.  We had to wait for the drawbridge to come back down which was kind of neat to watch.

And then we got our ice cream.

We still had some daylight left so we got back in the car and drove to Newport, Rhode island.

There were a lot of mansions. 

The tide was really rough along the shore:

Can you believe these people out on the rocks?

The tide even came over the road in some places.  Watch this:

I’m sure the houses were even more beautiful to see in pretty weather; but we were glad to head back to our own home on wheels.

On Sunday afternoon, the skies cleared and Chuck fished for a little while around the pond.

Chuck caught a couple of small bass.

And I found a big bull frog.

We walked back to the RV and just sat outside and enjoyed the quiet for a little while that evening before hittin' the road again tomorrow for Massachusetts.