Our Gour-Nay Weekend

Last weekend the family and I took a much needed getaway to Mystic Connecticut. Many of you that were around in the 1980's maybe know of Mystic from the movie Mystic Pizza, starring a little known actress of the time named Julia Roberts. What many of you may not know is that Mystic is also the home of the Mystic Aquarium and the touristy Mystic Seaport.

Mystic has been a family favorite since my first son, Sour Dough, was just a little guy. We frequent the joint, if you will. We live a few hours away so we like to go for a few days at a time to hit all of the sites. The problem, sometimes, with staying anywhere for a few days means you have to eat there, somewhere.

Our family is a large one and as such a regular hotel room just won't do. We require a suite, a large one with two bedrooms and a pull out couch actually. Our hotel of choice is usually Homewood Suites or Staybridge Suites because they have the size room we require, and this weekend we stayed at Residence Inn by Marriott, which is nearly identical to the other two. These suites also have kitchenettes, which comes in handy for saving money on food as well as eliminating the need for fast food or expensive restaurants.

As a matter of fact, we nearly always cook in the room when we go away. Sometimes though, like the year before last when we went to Boston, it doesn't work out as well as you plan. On that particular trip I had my lesser quality, hotel room frying pan a bit too hot, turned away for just a moment and smoked out the hotel. Not just our room mind you, the entire hotel. I set the fire alarm off and the hotel staff had already begun evacuation procedures by the time I called the front desk to explain.

Back to this happier weekend, when we chose not to take advantage of the kitchenette. This weekend we decided that since we were only in town for a few days, it would be better to just eat out rather than prepare meals in the room. I am still regretting that decision. The first night My Beautiful Wife decided that the children like Pizza Hut, so let's order Pizza Hut. The nearest Pizza Hut is too far away to deliver, so as an added bonus we get to drive to pick it up. That actually was ok, because my Mother in Law, Brötchen, stayed with the kiddies so My Beautiful Wife and I could go for the ride alone.

The next day was Mystic Aquarium day, so we got up nice and early, had our Continental Breakfast which apparently means dried out scrambled egg stuff, dried out ham slices, dried out pancakes, and a few other unsavory items. I'm not quite sure which Continent they are referring to. All I know about the Continental Breakfast at these hotel chains is this, Thank goodness for make-it-yourself waffle stations. It makes the kids happy and it gives you at least 1 item that you can actually eat.

As we progressed through the day we were having a grand time and building up our appetites for lunch. You wouldn't believe it but the Mystic Aquarium has a 5 star restaurant right on premises. And you shouldn't believe it either because I may give the cafeteria style eatery 5 something, but they definitely are not stars. For some reason all I really wanted to eat was seafood, but alas, I was stuck with a hockey puck of a burger and some salty, oily fries.

I would like to tell you that dinner that evening was better, but I can't. Not because it wasn't, but because I don't remember what we had. I think my neurons took over and hid the rest of the weekend's menu deep in my sub-consciousness to save me from having to go on some talk show and tell the world how one weekend forever destroyed all of my happy food thoughts.

To sum up the entire trip for you: I still love Mystic, I still love the Aquarium, I still love the Seaport, and I will never, ever squander away an opportunity to cook dinner in my kitchenette when my only other option is CARP. (That last word is a scramble)