Priority number one was to arrange for a marine-oriented gps backup. We had our car gps, but it didn't have the marine charts on it. First stop with the rental car was West Marine. We are very happy with our purchase of a Garmin Colorado with blue water charts. It came with a PC program to create waypoints and routes. This is very handy because the Garmin colorado has a teeny screen. However, after creating the waypoints and routes, with a usb cable, the data can be transferred to the colorado. We tweaked some settings and voila, the bearing and distance to next waypoint matched up perfectly with our Furuno chartplotter.
Second priority was to arrange for such neglected niceties as haircuts. This necessity always brings anxiety and dread...where do you go for a good haircut in an unfamiliar town??? On the other hand, a bad haircut can be remedied at the next port of call. Shorn and as lovely as we can get, we headed out for some major sightseeing.
I have to highly recommend Mystic Seaport, a living history museum along the waterfront. Although there are the standard maritime museum exhibits, there are also many colonial homes and businesses you can explore with docents to explain what life was like in the 1800's. There are also ships you can board.
When I was a girl studying American history, I first read about Williamsburg, VA. For a history buff, Williamsburg sounded like the mecca, with people dressed in period clothes, chatting, answering questions. A couple of years ago we visited Williamsburg. It was a dashing disappointment for both Robert and me. It was bitterly expensive with only a few buildings open for period interaction. Other buildings were curio shops. I won't go into all of our negative reactions, however, Mystic Seaport was what I'd expected Williamsburg to be, plus more. It was a very entertaining, relaxing, educational experience. We liked it so much, we went two days.
One of the period homes brought to Mystic Seaport.
Inside the home, this extremely knowledgeable docent explained in great detail the life of the housewife in the 1800's. Her stories were so interesting that we listened and asked questions for quite some time.
To make it living history, the docent was cooking on the hearth. Here she is going to check on the cake and on the cornbread.
The pot on the hook has hot water. The kettle on the left contains the cornbread. The kettle on the right holds the cake. Later on we ran into this docent handing out samples of the cake and cornbread to other docents. She remembered us and gifted us with a couple of pieces of the yummy cornbread.
An example of the lovely gardens in each yard, containing both flowers and herbs. In each backyard was a huge vegetable garden. 
A couple of street scenes
We had planned to leave Mystic on Tue, Aug 2, however, we awoke to nasty fog. Gloom. We waited until 10 only to have conditions worsen. Robert found a local, George, for insider information. George strongly advised not to leave if you can't see Fisherman's Island. On a positive note, due to our delay, we became better acquainted with George and his wife. They took us to a very yummy seafood restaurant for dinner.Robert and I were feverishly attempting to learn enough weather from Weather Underground to predict fog. Wednesday was foggy. We couldn't see Fisherman's Island. We stayed in port.
Our wait for a good day paid off. Thursday was a beautiful, clear, crystal day. Our patience was rewarded with an easy trip to Newport, RI. We needed constant vigilence for the ever present lobster pots, but the visibility made this much easier.
Leaving Mystic Harbor
One of the islands outside Mystic Harbor and one of the reasons we didn't want to leave in the fog.
A humble, rustic waterfront community we passed on the way to Newport, RI.
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