My brother is temporarily unemployed for a month, and this is the first real "vacation" he's had in years. So, it was nice to spend a whole day with him, driving to Mystic Seaport and back.
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The day began for me by not having enough sleep the night before, and rushing to get out of the house in time to meet him in Port Chester. Once he arrived, we took care of a little personal business before going on our way - he needed some hand cream, and I needed a pair of tweezers. From there, we spent the next 2 hours driving to Mystic to visit the museum.
Once at the museum, we found parts of it closed, possibly for the winter. Yet, it well worth the drive to get there. On the way, we talked "of shoes, and ships, and sealing wax, and whether pigs have wings." There are a lot of things going on in his life, and it looks like he's made the decision to plateau his career. This will give him more time to live his life without the stress of staying upwardly mobile, while being with the people who make his life worth living.
It was nice to see these old buildings and ships placed into a context befitting a nautical town of the 1800's. At one exhibit, we ran into a docent who started talking about his visits to San Francisco and its local beer - Anchor Steam. Once he mentioned Anchor Steam, I got into the story of how Fritz Maytag once rescued the brewery, and how the pandemic ended up killing the brewery off. Next, we explored the rest of the museum, visiting an old bank building, an old schoolhouse, and old chapel, and a whaling ship. It was very educational for someone not focused on maritime history, Yet, with half of the museum exhibits being closed, it means that we will return someday soon.
On the way home, my brother asked me to do some of the driving, as his back was killing him. I was glad that he trusted me to drive his car, and we ended up at an Asian place outside of Norwalk. The food was good, but not spectacular. Once done with dinner, my brother took back the helm of his car, and we drove to Port Chester to say Goodbye until next time....
