The Escalantes: December 2011

Rather than sitting around twiddling our thumbs for Baby Escalante to debut, we decided to take a trip to Mystic, CT for an overnight get away. Mystic Seaport is notable both for its collection of sailing ships and boats, and for the recreation of an entire 19th century seafaring village. The seaport was one of the first living history museums in the U.S., with a collection of buildings and craftsmen to show how work was done during this era. We arrived in the afternoon yesterday and toured, thoroughly enjoying the mid-50's and sunny weather. Here are a few of the things we saw~

This tree trunk is huge!! All of this tree's branches were used to help rebuild the Charles W. Morgan Whaleship (more details below)

The Shipyard where people were working to rebuild ships

One of the docks at the Seaport

Cool Boat

Cool Sky

I heart Michael

There were a lot of really cool colored buildings, so we took lots of random pictures.

40 weeks minus 3 days

The Shipyard

Loosely twisted fibers of tarred hemp (called oakum) are driven into the seams between planks with special wedge-shaped irons and long headed mallets. This process, called caulking, locks the whole structure together into a rigid, watertight form that can better withstand the strains of seagoing.

I was not very good at it, but we watched a video of a professional doing it and it was amazing to see how fast and efficient he was!

The sky was very cooperative for photo taking

Michael on board the Charles W. Morgan whaleship.
Ships of this kind usually harvested the blubber of whales for whale oil, which was commonly used in lamps. The ship's first voyage was in 1841. She sailed as a whaleship for about 80 years before retiring and becoming part of the seaport's museum. This ship is the only surviving wooden whaleship from the 19th century American fleet. It is currently being repaired with hopes that it will set sail again in 2013.

View from below the main deck

Bunk beds where the crew would sleep. You can see that they weren't very long beds. They weren't very wide either.

This is where the crew would bring the whales to cut out the blubber. The ceiling was very low because they were usually on their knees cutting the whale apart.

The sky continued to be amazing.

The Charles W. Morgan hoisted up for its repairs.

The Seaport in general was very picturesque

Life saving device: A rescue boat carrying these small vessels would arrive at a boat in distress and have as many crew members as would fit, tuck inside this vessel. It was then reeled back to the rescuing ship and sent back and forth bringing crew members to safety. It may be hard to tell from the picture, but this vessel was not very big.

Almost 40 weeks pregnant (short 3 days)

The anchors carried by these ships were ridiculously large.

The baby's first ride on a big machine

After leaving the seaport, we checked into our hotel and headed to check out the town. We had a fantastic seafood dinner at a place called S and P Oyster Company. The restaurant is right on the bay and had a very pretty ambiance inside and out.

After dinner we walked down the main street stopping in most of the little shops. My favorite was a gallery with some beautiful artwork. Although it was already closed, we were able to peek through the windows. Sitting in the window was a Christmas tree decorated with beautiful hand made glass ornaments. This picture doesn't do them justice.

The next day we woke up and went swimming in the hotel's pool before heading back to the Seaport to resume our exploration. Here are some pictures from Friday.

Can you find Michael?

How about me?

Exploring the town made to resemble a 1800's fishing village

40 weeks minus 2 days

The Church

Taken for Deb-this was as close as we came to canoeing on the ocean

This anchor weighed 7,000 lbs. It was discovered off the coast of Boston and believed to be from a british ship used during the revolutionary war. AMAZING!