We were in Mystic in May 2019 during our loop trip to Acadia NP.

Connecticut was Bugsy’s 41st state! We were all very excited about that. And it was the Airstream’s 40th, but the Airstream cares less than Bugsy does about that sort of thing. At this point in the trip we were just hightailing it home from Maine to Virginia, but still trying to stop in interesting places along the way. Mystic fit the bill as a cute little town with neat sights to see and yummy things to eat and drink.

Campground

Seaport RV Resort and Campground is a pleasant, grassy campground about ten minutes from the center of Mystic, but our site was a bit torn up. No campsites have sewer connections there, which must make things interesting for the long-term RV residents.

Exploring Mystic

Downtown Mystic is compact and a nice place to stroll, with plenty of shops and restaurants (including, of course, Mystic Pizza). The sidewalks were busy, and as always, we were thankful to be there before high tourist season.

We wanted to explore Mystic Seaport, but the entire area is fenced off as part of a large museum complex and dogs aren’t welcome. It’s probably a good place to take human children.

Mystic’s centerpiece is the drawbridge carrying Main Street over the Mystic River; it opens once an hour during the warmer months and I thought watching it open was super cool. Bugsy, on the other hand, thought the world was ending when the warning dings started (she hates railroad crossings too) so she and J retired to a safe distance.

We also recommend walking down Gravel St on the Groton side of the bridge to ogle the fancy houses along the water.

Eating

We broke our lobster streak in Portland, but had to get one last lobster roll before leaving New England. For lunch we ordered fantastic carryout lobster rolls from Red 36 and enjoyed them sitting on a dock amongst sailboats and water birds.

I wasn’t sure about dinner at Grass and Bone, as it’s very meat-focused and I’m not so meaty myself. But J was excited about the meat–it’s butchered in-house, from local grass-fed animals–and lucky for me the meat-free mushroom ramen was SO good. We had a Connecticut beer (I didn’t note the brewery, bad travel blogger) with dinner and bought some local eggs and flank steak on the way out.

Drinking

Mystic has a brewery! It was closed! Bummer!

Mystic has a cool treehouse bar! It was closed! Bummer! (Yeah, there’s a downside to going places outside tourist season.)

We landed at Engine Room for a cocktail. It’s a gorgeously refurbished old marine workshop with a big bustling bar and a nice little patio and maybe the best happy hour menu I’ve ever seen. I learned later that Engine Room, Grass and Bone, and Oyster Club (home of the Treehouse bar) are siblings, and clearly that group knows what they’re doing. If they open anything else in Mystic, it’ll probably be good.