Big Stops in Little Places: Providence and Mystic

By mid-morning we realized that inspiration was to be the theme of the day in Providence as we toured the incredible Rhode Island School of Design Museum.  As one of the country’s top design schools (known as RIS-Dee), each building of the museum has been artfully re-created to best showcase its specialty. So much beauty in just one morning! 

But road-trippers cannot live on beauty alone, so we made our way to Hemenway’s Seafood Grill and Oyster Bar for lunch.  It felt really good to settle in and enjoy a meal that was flown in that very day from the New England coastline just to the north of us. 

Next, it was time head south to take in another gem along the Northern Atlantic Coast, Mystic, Connecticut.  About 90 minutes later, we found ourselves boarding the wooden deck of ARGIA, a two-masted 25-meter 19^th century replica sailing schooner, to get our very own taste of maritime history among the light houses and islands of the Long Island Sound.  We soon found ourselves sailing just as they did in the early 1900s, and we even lent a hand in raising sails and crewing the boat.

Later, we decided to catch dinner at Mystic Pizza, which – you guessed it – served as the inspiration for the popular 1988 film Mystic Pizza. What used to be a little family-owned pizza shop has become a town hot spot. We give the pizza, the atmosphere and what we saw of the movie playing in the background two thumbs up.

So much fresh sea air and travel through time left us in the perfect mindset to melt into our relaxing rooms at the Stonecroft Country Inn B&B. Connecticut countryside on a warm summer evening — could anything be better?