I got up at 4:15 am for another early morning plane ride. Mom and I took the 7 am flight from Chicago to Hartford. Out of 50 seats on the American Eagle plane, maybe half of them were occupied. I took plenty of time to sleep on that plane. I knew I was packing a lot of events into six days and, I don't know, maybe I was wishing I could keep some sleep on layaway and use it later!
We arrived in Hartford and our bags were the only ones laying on the claim carousel. I guess everyone else tried to check theirs in and wait on the jet bridge to retrieve them. We took a shuttle to our rental car from Advantage, and at 51 bucks a day, it was a steep price to pay. I guess since it's spring break, cars are in high demand. Also, I found out a lot of people fly to Hartford and then drive to Boston or New York since the rates are cheaper in Hartford. The car we got was this baby blue Nissan, that was so bright of a blue, I think the people who own the color blue would try to claim that car was red. It was made in Mexico and the speakers sounds so muffled, it's like listening to AM radio in 1965.
The first place we drive to was Johnny Ad's, a seafood shack in Old Saybrook. Mom, as always got her lobster roll, while I opted for a fried clam strip roll. I got a New England hot dog roll absolutely overloaded with fried strips. They could have been hotter in temperature, but they tasted very crispy and tender. I added a little tartar sauce, that added an extra layer of flavor. Crinkle cut fries were good too. There was a mix-up with our drinks. The owner charged us for them but I noticed we didn't get them with our food. I went back to the order window, asked them, and she said we never then said she didn't. We kind of went back and forth on that issue before they realized they did charge us for them. Everything was friendly, it was just kind of a confusing situation. Pretty good spot, not sure I'd return though.
So we drove to Crescent Point nursing home in the tiny town of Niantic. We visited with my grandmother for maybe an hour and I hadn't seen her in maybe six years, I really don't know how many years it had been. We all talked about a variety of topics, some family, some general. It went pleasant enough.
Then we drive over to North Road in Waterford, about ten minutes away where my grandfather now lives in his own apartment. It's only two minutes away from the house they used to live in. I was surprised how much thinner he looked and that he was wearing sweatpants. I always picture him wearing a suit or shorts to ride a bike in. It was a very strange sight. He was still walking on hos own just fine, albeit a little slower. He hadn't eaten that day, so we took him to a local restaurant called The Shack. He ordered a bowl of stuffed pepper soup and cornbread, while Mom just had coffee, and I had a tall glass of milk, and a big slice of homemade coconut custard pie with whipped cream. The pie crust was very flaky and I love the coconut flavor. It's very hard to find that flavor pie, so that made the taste that much more enjoyable.
After dropping him off at his apartment, we checked in at the Hampton Inn hotel in Mystic. It's on a road right off exit 90 on I-95 with about five other hotels right around it. Let's see, a hotel with a nice bed, pool, 40 TV channels, free hot breakfast, and a gym with dumbbells, I'm happy with that. I was also happy that I was finally able to change out of my slacks and sweater and put on black jeans and an olive green pullover. Much more comfortable.
Not wanting to stay inside, we went to the Mystic outlet malls and our first stop was the Bass shoe store. The last time I had been in this store was 10 years ago when I bought a pair of boots that I still wear today, even though they're pretty well worn and not that comfortable anymore! Well today, I couldn't believe what the store was offering. Almost every pair of shoes in the store was available for 80 percent off! I got two pairs. One was a pair of waterproof black slip ons and the other was boots that are dark brown and black. I never expected to buy shoes on this trip. But those shoes cost $300 total, but I paid about $56 for both! An absolute steal!
After a little more window shopping, we headed north to the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville. In my mind, it's the nicest casino I've ever seen outside of Las Vegas and I can see why it's quickly become one of the most popular casinos in America. The construction and design of the casinos is very unique, the hotel rooms, I hear, are tremendous, and the restaurants are through the roof. We opted for Frank Pepe pizza, which is a legendary pizzeria based in New Haven. We ordered a salad to split then got a 16-incher with Clams and bacon on one side and roasted peppers and shrimp on the other. They cook them in their brick oven, which uses coal for the heat. I still contend that coal pizza is the best way to cook pizza. It adds a smokiness and a crispness to the crust you can't get anywhere else. And indeed, this was an amazing pizza. The funny part was the kid who made the pizza rolled the dough out wrong. As a result, a corner of the pizza had a hole in it and that kind of messed up about a quarter of the pizza. They wold us and made us a small pizza with shrimp and peppers to replace it. So all of a sudden, we get even more pizza than we bargained for. It wound up serving as our dinner the next night too!
We left around 7 or so drove around downtown Mystic, passing sights such as the famous drawbridge over Mystic River, Mystic Pizza, the Black Dog Cafe, and Flood Tide, which was renovated by Robert Irvine on Restaurant Impossible. We made it back to the hotel around 8 and settled in for the night.
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