Before leaving our quiet and restful campground, we took a little side trip a few miles north to see the Gillette Castle. Getting there required a ferry ride across the Connecticut River (a modest toll). William Gillette was a writer, director, stage actor in the 1920's who wrote plays based on the stories of Author Conan Doyle about Sherlock Holmes and played Sherlock himself. He developed the persona of Holmes to the extent that any reference to Holmes internationally was a reference to Gillette. Following the death of his wife he suffered a period of depression, then, being very wealthy, he purchased hilltop land and built his quirky 'castle'. The castle is open to the public beginning the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, but we were there on the Friday before. (Missed it by that much!! - Remember that?) Inside are more quirky things like a movable table on tracks and a system of hidden mirrors for surveillance. The entire outside is rock, even the eaves overhanging the windows. The grounds also feature much rockwork. And the view of the Connecticut River is breathtaking. Can you imagine the color of those trees in the fall?? Notice the ferry crossing. Back to camp to make preparations for getting underway (that's Navy talk). Back on the road, there are lots of little towns along the coast, all with their shopping and marinas and vacation homes, but Mystic Harbor is one of the more famous ones so we took a little detour away from the freeway for a brief visit. The main attraction is Mystic Seaport which is a collection of working exhibits including shipbuilding and rope making. (Sailing vessels need a lot of rope!). There is an entry fee to see them all, but they were quite spread out, and it was late in the day, and we were tired with a ways to go, so we didn't go in. but here are some pics of the area. Back on the road to a Walmart in Rhode Island. We figured we had better spend the night in Rhode Island or we might miss it altogether. The next morning we went out in the Jeep for some errands and to find a geocache in Rhode Island. One took us to an undiscovered gem (for us) called Allies Donuts. This place has been around for about 60 years and is the prime donut shop in Rhode Island. When we got there in the morning, the line outside had a few people in it. There were about 20 more people in line inside. When we left, there were about 15 people waiting outside. The donuts were pretty good.
We actually found a campground where we could stay for Memorial weekend, so we weren't 'homeless'. Leaving Rhode Island, we headed east for Massachusetts. Stay tuned.
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Who are we?Chuck and Mary Lou have been traveling in their RV since 2002 and have lately been taking longer, extended trips. This is our way to share our experiences. Trip Reports
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