That’s right, folks. That’s how many photos I took all told while we were in Mystic. If you’d like to see some of the photos I didn’t blog here, including some really cute doggie photos, click here.
~Kelly
That’s right, folks. That’s how many photos I took all told while we were in Mystic. If you’d like to see some of the photos I didn’t blog here, including some really cute doggie photos, click here.
~Kelly
After we finished seeing the various sites and the dog demonstrations, we took some time to look over the Amistad. It had been closed when we were there on Friday so it was nice to have the chance to go on board today. The crew were wonderful and welcomed the dogs on board with us. The following are all Amistad photos.







Geoff here – I had such a long and animated discussion with the captain and one of the Mystic Seaport volunteers that I kept getting in the way of people who were walking on the ship. My bad. But it was still a lot of fun for me. I don’t get to geek out like that very often.






And that concludes our day at the Seaport and on the Amistad. There are a lot more photos that didn’t make the cut, especially dog photos. I’ll find a place to put them all online and I’ll post that link here later. Meanwhile, I hope you enjoyed our little vacation. (We did! ~Geoff)
~Kelly
Today was our last day in Mystic. We spent the day at the Seaport attending Dog Days with Thumbelina and Rerun. I took a startlingly huge number of photos today. I’ll try not to post too many here. Try…

Geoff here – these two little sweeties’ parents drove a nice Mini Cooper and are thinking about moving to Cambridge. They were really nice. It was funny when we got out of the truck with ours, and they were getting out of their car with theirs at the same time. Kooky.





Geoff again – of course, all of this period material culture is some of my favorite stuff to see. The blacksmith shop was one of the few places that I had the chance to really look at but there are so many others I will have to check out sometime when we have more time. Next year!

Geoff again – I have never seen a fire pumper this old. This was a real treat.



Geoff again – the dogs were really good this weekend, and were generally very friendly with both dogs and people everywhere they went. It makes me glad that we have the ability to travel with them like this.






That’s everything from our day at the Seaport, except our time aboard the Amistad. The next post will be all Amistad, all the time.
~Kelly
P.S. Yay history! ~Geoff
So Saturday was spent in Downtown wandering through the various shops and along the river. One of the major features of Mystic is the drawbridge that opens, um, all the time. There’s even a local pizza place that offers half off all slices when the bridge is up. Here is a selection of photos from Saturday.



Geoff here – as we were walking along, I noticed that this particular area near the river (which is really an estuary of sorts) seems to be a pretty popular fishing spot. I will have to remember to bring my fishing gear sometime if we are able to spend more time there in Mystic. There is so much stuff around there that we did not even get to see. Mystic strikes me as one of those kind of places that you will probably not run out of stuff to do for quite some time. There is even at least one beach nearby that allows people to bring their dogs.



Geoff again – I have never seen the movie, but I am sure that at some point I will go check it out from the Cambridge library. But the pizza is indeed pretty good, although it sure seems like that place is mostly for the tourists and the locals all eat somewhere else. Well, we will still buy the frozen ones anyway.






Aaaaaand, that was Saturday. We had a great time and we manged to get through it without sunburn, bug bites, or spending too much money. Next post, our day at the Seaport on Sunday.
~Kelly
After the Doggie Parade was over we walked around the Seaport for a while. These are some of the photos I snapped of various things around the port. Enjoy!










That’s it for today. There will be more tomorrow, the camera is all charged and ready to go.
~Kelly
Well, after battling some of the worst traffic I’ve seen in all the years I’ve lived in Boston, we made it to Mystic in time to quite literally join in the end of the parade. We were the Dachshunds bringing up the rear and we were proud in our Red Sox regalia. Too bad one of the judges was a Yankee fan. Anyway, we got lots of cheers and clapping and people took our pictures as we walked. The dogs got LOTS of attention and more head pats and neck scritches than they may have ever had in their lives.
Anyway, here are some photos. I took a LOT of them but I won’t post them all here so as not to kill you all with dog pictures.






That’s all the dog photos from the parade. Next post, photos from Mystic Seaport.
~Kelly
Yesterday Kelly and I went tax-free shopping in New Hampshire. We wanted to look around for a few things that we need or will eventually need (such as wedding stuff) but in the meantime we had a good time browsing various places in the Portsmouth area. I was surprised to find some cool little shops and such. We found this one little eclectic gift shop that had all sorts of funny and interesting stuff, and the whole downstairs was dedicated to pets.
(Note from Kelly, I had been looking for this sign for a LONG time and was thrilled to find it for only $5.)

We also crossed the border for a short trip into Maine. Surprisingly, this was my first trip to Maine. I think it is the only state on the East Coast, and possibly the only one east of the Mississippi River that I had never visited.
(Naturally, this meant that we had to take a picture. Paul Gross arms, ftw. ~Kelly)

So we took a quick trip into the area of Kittery to do some outlet shopping. I managed to find a good pair of shoes to wear with my tuxedo. So I am all set now as far as having everything I will wear at the wedding. I am assuming that since we were only in the state for a few hours, all of the monsters that Stephen King writes about as being in Maine did not have time to find us. Thank goodness.
Geoff
Courtesy of my Surprise! Guest!, and Maid of Honor, please enjoy some party photos from Geoff’s 40th Birthday Party. They’re a little dark because they were taken at the cake cutting in the dining room which is the most poorly lit room in the house.
~Kelly





Yesterday I was able to make arrangements to go pick up 150 silver chargers like these for an absolute steal in Cranston, Rhode Island. I had been thinking about getting them for the wedding, but the prices and shipping on the internet was making them prohibitively expensive. (The link above is the least expensive vendor available.) Anyway, on our way down to meet up with the seller we stopped by the R.I. Antiques Mall in Pawtucket and came away with a couple of books (shocking, I know) and a pair of super heavy, honest-to-God, bronze bookends that were marked down 50%.
After handling a monsoon and a wrong turn thanks to our GPS, we made it to Cranston and then headed back. That’s when Geoff decided that he wanted to head to the BassPro shop in Foxboro, MA. You see, this is his favorite store, maybe ever. He walks in the door and turns into a little kid. When he told me they had a big aquarium, I was sold. We didn’t have anywhere to be.
Then, Bon Jovi struck.
You see, the BassPro shop is quite literally in a shopping complex right across the street from the football stadium where the Patriots play. I have been to a Pats game, I know how insane traffic gets when a thousand million people are trying to get into Foxborough all via Rt. 1 at the same time. It’s a special kind of traffic jam. In the off season, the stadium gets used for rock/country/insane/stupid concerts and events just about every weekend.
Naturally, we had forgotten this. So, we got into traffic and stopped moving. I called a friend, one of my bridesmaids, and asked her to hop online and see what was going on. She looked it up and said, “Bon Jovi” and Geoff and I both groaned inwardly. When she said that Kid Rock was opening for him, there was some audible swearing. So we hopped out of line for our exit, zipped past the traffic, and decided to head home. Except that’s not how it worked out.
At the next exit we were both hungry and Geoff had to pee, naturally, so we wound up in the parking lot of American Joe’s Bar and Grill. I can’t tell you how amusing our dining experience was. The hostess was either psychic or sized us up immediately. I walked in and must have looked a little stricken. The place was PACKED to the rafters with families with young kids. She went to look for a table and came back and lead us to a back corner with 2 booths and said, “You can pick either one, I know there are a lot of kids here tonight and I figured you might want a break from the noise.” She was right on, we had a great waitress and the quietest seat in the house.
Anyway, we plotted during dinner and decided that once we were done we’d take another shot at getting to BassPro. (This was after I bet Geoff $20 that yes, they really would be open till at least 9:00pm on a weekend night. I won the bet.) We figured by that time the BonJovi peeps would be more or less in the stadium and we should be able to tell our GPS unit to take us there via back roads. We enjoyed our dinner and then headed out. And our plan worked. We made it in under a half an hour, got parking in the Retail Only parking lot, and after I spent time staring at the fishies and turtles, actually picked up the stuff Geoff needed. Also, I took some pictures.

And then, because I’m just like this, I got another picture with the fishies.

I do find it slightly ironic that a store dedicated to the catching, killing, and eating of game fish has a huge, beautiful, and incredibly well maintained aquarium of them. But, it still made me happy to see them swimming around and in such good condition. They are the luckiest game fish on earth.
~Kelly