Fall Adventure in Mystic and Newport

My wife and I celebrated our 14th anniversary last week.  We decided to go on a trip to Mystic, Connecticut and Newport, Rhode Island.  My wife has always wanted to visit Mystic since we have been together, and we both have hoped to explore the New England coast at some point in our lives.  Yes, we are old-ER now and enjoy some "leave peeping" during the fall.  Our drive into Connecticut was full of trees with colors bursting of the fall season.

Mystic is a nice, small city on the coast of Connecticut.  Yes, this is the place where the 1988 movie Mystic Pizza starring Julia Roberts was filmed.  We did partake of the famous pizza, and it wasn't too bad.  Oddly enough, we were there on the 37th anniversary of when the movie was released.  We didn't know it until later in the day.  We enjoyed walking through the shops along the main street in Mystic.  Mostly your typical tourist stores.  We enjoyed views of the Mystic Bay and walking the short boardwalk.  A short drive from the downtown area was "Old Mystic Village" which featured more shops and restaurants which we explored and couldn't resist the temptation of making a few purchases.  Next to the village is the Mystic Aquarium.  The aquarium has an awesome Beluga Whale exhibit, and the keepers were eager to talk about them.  We stood at the tank for a long time enjoying these beautiful creatures.  We also enjoyed the seal/sea lion exhibit and the main gallery.  We were disappointed that the penguin exhibit was closed during our visit, but we still enjoyed our time there.   

We were in Mystic on Monday and Tuesday of our week so there were barely any crowds; however, we stopped back in Mystic on our trip home on Saturday and the crowds were overwhelming.  It reminded me of Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge crowds on a weekend.  

Newport wasn't a planned destination.  We were going to stop there on our way to Cape Cod, but we stopped in this Rhode Island city on the coast and loved it.   My wife and I love water, and the harbor/ocean views were absolutely amazing.  We are in love with this place now.  Newport was an unexpected surprise.  We stayed at the Brenton Hotel and had an amazing water view of the harbor.  There were many streets of shopping, food, museums and history.  We also toured three of the Newport Mansions.  The tours of The Breakers, Rosecliff and The Elms was amazing.  If you ever go to Newport, you need to tour The Breakers mansion which just totally blew us away.  Millionaires built these mansions as their summer homes and spared no expense.  Our favorite location was Brenton Point State Park where we parked and enjoyed the water view of the Atlantic Ocean.  We stopped here at least three times on our visit.  Just amazing views of the water, sail boats and waves crashing against the rocks.  

If you are planning to visit either of these places, I will warn you that it is expensive for lodging and food.  It was a lot more than we were expecting but we worked it out and enjoyed our visits.  It was a very nice adventure for us.  We also got a peek at Taylor Swift's mansion near Westerly, Rhode Island on a drive from Mystic to Newport.  

Our adventure was an ideal fall trip to celebrate our 14th anniversary.  Mystic was magical and Newport was an unexpected surprise.  

The Merging of Good and Evil

We are in a battle of good against evil. Sadly, it looks like evil is winning. Recently my wife and I were talking about the events in the news and it just seems that everyday there is a new level of evil. The scary thing about it is that people are blurring the lines between good and evil.

The Bible warned us about this in Isaiah 5:20-21:

Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!

You can’t even call someone out for doing wrong. When you do instead of admitting their error, they will attack you instead. We live in a time when nobody is wrong. Many refuse to accept accountability for their actions. People would rather justify them doing evil than repenting of their ways and doing what is right.

In our country there is a divide between Republicans and Democrats with good and evil being interchanged constantly until people really don’t know who to believe. Anything that is contrary to what someone believes is called “fake news” or attacked. The truth doesn’t stand a chance. Just because a politician or someone in the media believes something is true doesn’t mean it is. We have to be careful in weighing the good and evil. We can’t rely on what “they” say but trust what God has already said about it.

Apart from God, our value system will always become jumbled. We will begin to confuse sweetness and bitterness, light and darkness, and good and evil. Many look for every reason to disprove the Bible or have a belief in God rather than just simply doing what the Bible says. They would rather debate you and argue.

In these challenging days, we have to stick to a standard and that standard is the Holy Word of God. You can’t just base what is right on what you feel. Feelings change and we don’t like being told we are wrong.  Somehow we have to fight to keep the separation between good and evil.

Can "No Kings" Cause Change?

This weekend millions of people participated in “No Kings Day” protests around the country.  Based on this if I were president I think I would examine my actions which cause millions to protest you. Instead, he posts an AI-generated video showing him flying a military jet, wearing a king’s crown and dumping feces on the protestors. Can you even imagine the reaction if any of the former presidents have done that?

Clearly we can see that our country is no longer united.  There are some deep lines drown between us.  So seeing the protests yesterday, I wondered if it will do any good?  How can these protests affect any real change?  The politicians only want us to donate money but how can anything change?

So what other protest made any changes in American history?

U.S. Civil Right Movement - The 1963 march on Washington for jobs and freedom, featuring Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, helped build momentum for the Civl Rights Act of 1964.

Women’s Suffrage - Women's suffrage advocates organized demonstrations, petitions, and civil disobedience to demand voting rights.  The decades-long movement culminated in the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920, granting women the right to vote in the U.S.

Anti-Vietnam War Protests - A nationwide series of events in October and November 1969, this was a significant turning point that mobilized a mass movement and helped to erode public support for the war.

Protests do work and can create change.  I don’t know how the “No Kings” protests will make change.  We are definitely in a crucial time in American history.  

Watching these protests made me remember the Schoolhouse Rock episode.  

Watch it here:  https://youtu.be/WvOZs3g3qIo?si=y_vuqvIrony4fKFy

It is my hope that things will change whether these protests make a difference or not but I honestly can’t see it right now.