Sailing to Fisher Island, Mystic Pizza and Ice Cream

We woke to discover a lot of commotion on the shore by the Mystic Boathouse. Hundreds of swimmers were preparing for an annual 1500 meter swim in the harbor. Additionally, two training sloops from the British Royal Navy had arrived and it appeared as if the British sailors and marines were also participating in the swimming. The Mystic fireboat arrived just before the start and began to fire its water cannon. Needless to say, the boys were impressed by it all. It was a challenge to get them to come below for breakfast.

Mystic Fireboat

After breakfast, we went for a sail on Long Island Sound. The boys were really excited since they were going to get to crew and do adventurous things like "pull on ropes" an have a turn at the wheel "driving" Foreign Affair.

"Driving" Foreign Affair

We made it through the two bridges without delay. The boys were impressed that their grandma knew how to operate a radio and got the bridge tender to open the bridge so we could pass through. Ann enjoyed the quaintness of the homes along the Mystic as we headed out toward the Sound. The highlight of our short journey down the Mystic was the lighthouse and the three tiny houses on Mouse Island.

"Pulling Ropes"

We headed toward Fisher Island once we cleared the Mystic channel. We like to Google geographical features to learn about the history of the waters we are traveling through. As a result, we were able to provide Ann and the boys information about Fisher Island and a few other sites of interest during our sail. After a few hours on the water, the boys were ready to head back to our slip to have more fun ashore.

We finished the day with an outing for dinner to Mystic Pizza. This was an adventure for Ann who wanted to taste "A Slice of Heaven" and see if she could identify the secret ingredient which made Mystic pizzas so wonderfully good. It has been over 25 years since the movie, Mystic Pizza debuted with the then not-so-famous 19 year old Julia Roberts playing the part of a waitress along with Lili Taylor and Annabeth Gish. The movie was a great break for Julia, the owners of Mystic Pizza and the town of Mystic. Among us, only Ann had seen the movie; however, it was playing on TVs in the restaurant for those too old or too young to have seen it in the theaters back in 1988.