Into the Mystic

The seaport town of Mystic was the centerpiece of our Connecticut sojourn.  My oldest daughter Gina and her husband Laszlo took the train in from New York City to join us.
Youngest daughter Amy, her boyfriend Jordan, Julie and I enjoyed the tree-lined, hour-long drive from Storrs where Amy attends the University of Connecticut. While my hometown of Westminster, California, has been proclaimed an All-American City, the bedroom communities of Connecticut, with their Cape Cod and colonial houses scattered among seemingly endless forests, truly look like a Disney version of America.



As we approached our destination a week ago, Julie, who used to work for General Dynamics Electronic Systems in San Diego, pointed out the factilities of sister spinoff General Dynamics Electric Boats. GDEB builds nuclear submarines along a channel near Mystic. The U.S. also builds other military ships, so we still know how to make seaworthy, state of the art vessels. 

Connecticut has a proud history of shipbuilding, as the Mystic Seaport Museum of America and the Sea attests. Actually, we just saw the impressive periphery of the seaport, deciding not to fork out $24 per person to go inside. Instead, we enjoyed a delicious lunch overlooking the harbor at the outdoor picnic tables of the Sea View Snack Bar, which fries up fresh seafood and assorted fast food. Like much of America, Mystic has become primarily a place for tourists to visit and see monuments to past greatness when it comes to non-military manufacturing.

As a proud American who works in the growth industry of cruising, I am saddened that the floating wonders of the world which house such fantastic vacations are not built in the United States. You may think that our labor must be too high, but in fact other first world countries including Germany and Japan build ships.

A few years back, American Classic Voyages received heavy government subsidies to build two ships in Mississippi for its United States Cruise Lines to replace its aging American flagged ship in Hawaii. Unfortunately, American Classic Voyages went bankrupt in 2001, taking Project America down with it.

Norwegian Cruise Lines bought the unfinished ship out of bankruptcy and made some kind of deal to allow it to finish the ship under construction in Germany. That ship became Pride of America and, after some initial difficulties finding sufficient American staffing, it has been quite successful cruising Hawaii in recent years as an American flagged ship that doesn't need to call on a foreign port. I love the itinerary and recommend it highly, but it is sad that NCL America felt compelled to bring the ship to Germany to have it finished, even after our Congress had provided its prior owner huge subsidies to build it in America.

If you wonder why more ships don't cruise exclusively in U.S. waters, it is because they must be American flagged and staffed with an all-American crew. The Jones Act from the 1800s was an act passed to protect U.S. jobs, but it prohibits any foreign staffed cruise ship to not call on at least one foreign port of call, which ironically costs Americans commerce and jobs in favor of places like Mexico and Canada, which can be easily reached from the United States. NCL Pride of America is the last "American made" cruise ship in the world.

Why don't we build cruise ships in the United States when we make up such a large part of the world demand for cruises? Obviously, they are capital intensive projects which allow higher salaries and good benefits, as my business classes taught regarding marginal and fixed costs,  but we seem to have conceded this growth industry to other countries. If you have seen the insightful movie The Company Men, perhaps you too wish some rich investor like Warren Buffett would dig into his pockets to build cruise ships in America rather than fighting the tax system, but no one seems willing to take the risk.

When I hear about the government wanting to create American jobs, I can't help but wonder why they don't look at reducing regulations related to the cruise industry, a business model which consumers have proven they are willing to voluntarily support. From the experience of Project America as well as other recent SNAFUs of government manufacturing, however, it is obvious that the government shouldn't fund the projects but rather make it easier for American entrepreneurs to concentrate on building instead of filling out forms and jumping through hoops.

For what it is worth, in Germany they had some major problems finishing the ship, including the partially finished ship burning and almost sinking. As to whether this was simply bad luck or something related to 9/11-type conspiracies or union unrest is unclear.

In any case, Mystic definitely provides lots of great choices for tourists. In addition to Mystic Seaport, where we enjoyed some great free samples of fudge, we also walked over to Olde Mistick Village on the first day.

The Garlic Festival was in full swing, and various aromas enhanced with fresh garlic filled the air. In several locations, talented minstrals played folk music, and of course lots of people sold crafts. We enjoyed taking it all in, eventually buying some Jah Makin Me Crazy Coffee that had a rich caramel and vanilla flavor to it.

We checked into the Absence of Malice on Gina's computer, because Amy needed to watch it for a journalism ethics class paper. We all enjoyed the flick and saved Amy a couple of hours of study time in her overloaded university schedule.

Before watching the movie, we walked to Thai One On for dinner. Everything we tried from their extensive menu proved to be great. I had their signature dish, Thai One On Noodles, which was listed as spicy, but the waitress asked if I wanted one to four stars, with four being hottest. I asked for two stars, and it was really hot. I think even my sister would have called it flaming hot, but it was delicious. My Mystic Bridge IPA helped cool my tongue.

On Sunday, Gina and Laszlo went to the Mystic Aquarium, which they said was terrific, including the Beluga whales and stingrays. Julie and I went to Stonington, a nearby town with an historic lighthouse, and then back to the Garlic Festival.  College students Amy and Jordan worked on homework in the spacious lobby of our hotel, which has free internet. 

For lunch, we all walked into downtown Mystic to have lunch at the famous Mystic Pizza, which of course was made famous in the Julia Roberts movie of the same name. A loop of the movie played without sound constantly on televisions throughout the restaurant, among walls of movie memorobilia. The barbecued chicken pizza was excellent, as was a salad that included some fruit and nuts along with the greens and vinaigrette. It's good to know they didn't let fame screw up their recipes. 

After lunch, we browsed some great shops with unique items in downtown Mystic.  As usually happens, all too soon it was time to go. We enjoyed a nice weekend in Mystic.