Road Trip Day 10: Mystic Part 2 & New Haven, CT

On Monday morning, we arose early to escape the confines of the worst hotel ever. We decided to spend the morning at Mystic Aquarium and hang out with 4th and 5th graders on field trips. No, seriously, we were the oldest two individuals at the aquarium who weren't teachers, parents, or chaperons. The aquarium was a good time, since we hadn't been to one in ages. We really enjoyed the sea lions, both the average sized ones as well as giant Cody who weighed 1915 lbs and the three tiny baby sea lions that were only about a year old. We saw beluga whales and penguins and stingrays and a multitude of fish and sharks. We were somewhat grossed out by the bullfrogs and sadly, we didn't get to see any giant turtles. The sea lion show was a hit so the experience was overall pretty fun.

After the aquarium, we walked around the Mystic Seaport area and checked out some shops, per our usual exploration. For lunch, we actually drove a few miles to Noank to feast at Costello's Clam Shack! (Jen is a Costello, so, pretty cool, right?) Jen read up on Costello's and reported that down the road is a restaurant called Abbott's where they serve lobsters and other seafood dishes; they don't, however, serve anything fried so the idea was born to open Costello's down the road and focus on fried seafood. Abbott and Costello. Nice marketing. Good stuff. We shared some clam fritters then I had popcorn shrimp while Jen had a tuna melt. Another great lunch and another very neat experience on our travels. Who would have thought we'd eat at a Varano's and a Costello's in the same trip? We dominate the food selection.

After lunch, we drove to New Haven, CT, to check out Yale University. Very, very nice campus. Of all the campuses we saw on the trip, we found Yale to be the most impressive, mostly due to the architecture of some of its oldest buildings. Another excellent stop on the voyage.