Places/beaches to visit in Mystic, Connecticut area?
 

My husband and I are going to be spending 5 days in Mystic, Connecticut in mid-August. We are looking for some additional things to do (aside from the Aquarium, Seaport, and Casinos). Preferably some things without a ton of walking because I am pregnant. Are there beaches even that we could drive to? We don't mind driving 30-45 minutes to spend the day some place.
Thank you!!

45 minutes puts you in Newport, which has other attractions in addition to beaches. Rather less driving will bring you to Watch Hill, RI, a very exclusive town with a public beach -- you would have to pay to park. There are many other nice beaches on the RI shore, but unfortunately many are private. There are state beaches at Misquamicut and Matunick. They're both a bit honky-tonk. Narragansett beach is nicer and only a little further on. So, you'll have many choices within 45 minutes.

Going east, you can go to New Lyme, CT, home of the Griswold Museum, famous for American Impressionist paintings, you can go to Rocky Neck State Park, which has a fascinating beach (all Amtrak trains pass right by). Essex, CT has a steam train and local charm, and you can visit the Coast Guard Academy in New London and the Nuclear Submarine museum in Groton.

Stonington, CT, just west of Mystic, nice drive on back roads, has considerable waterfront charm and plenty of antiques. Of course you could gamble at an Indian casino, but I hope you wouldn't. Providence has an interesting museum at Rhode Island School of Design, and Johnson and Wales has a collection of culinary items, I think housed in their library. Providence is something of a foodie destination.

Good advice here, there also is a small museum at the lighthouse near the end of water street in Stonington. There is parking there too and a small beach, but I'm not sure if there is a fee for the beach, there is none for parking.

Misquamicut has a very large beach with lots of parking that you do pay for. The east end is a little less crowded usually.

Excellent suggestions so far.

The only things I can think to add would be Gillette Castle State Park (a large castle-like historic house you can tour, also has great views from the property), the Lyman Allen Art Museum (small but nice enough) in New London, and a few historic houses in Guilford that can be toured (Henry Whitfield State Museum, Hyland House, Thomas Griswold House) as well as a lot more you can drive or walk past.

If you like worthy art or natural history museums and excellent thin-crust pizza, New Haven offers both.

And if you decide to venture to Foxwoods Casino, the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center is excellent (check for hours though, as they may have been reduced since I was last there) and perhaps surprisingly quite large.

The beaches in Rhode Island seem much nicer to me than the ones in Connecticut though they realy aren't that far apart.
I don't like the huge RI beaches like Misquamicut. Narragansett is very easy to get to since it's basically in town, but for me that takes away some of the appeal. My favorite beaches in that area are in Charlestown RI. Small beaches, gorgeous sand, with lifeguards,changing rooms, bathrooms, a food stand. and never too crowded as they turn people away when the small parking lots are full. There are a town beach and a state beach almost next to each other, and another state beach a mile or 2 farther north. I haven't been there yet this season and I see online that they've done some major overhauls of the facilities, so I hope /assume it's even better than before. It's pretty expensive ($15 - 20 parking for nonresidents, typical of RI beaches) but worth it in my opinion.

Yes, the Mashantucket Pequots spent a fortune on their library and museum. At the time, they had essentially unlimited cash and the goal of building the premier native American collection in the United States, a collection that would be a destination in itself. I was a bit involved professionally in the early stages, but I don't know how far they got before they hit the reality that gambling revenues are not limitless.

I really should go there.

Also, there are two shacks by the water on the way into town in Mystic, before you get to the Seaport. They both have terrific seafood, and at least one of them has the best clear chowder I ever ate.

Ack the first shack found the opportunity to buy the land under the second shack - Kitchen Little and upped the rent. They have moved to a marina a few miles away.

I love East Beach in Charlestown. Rather then go to the main parking lot at Blue Shutters we head left and park before the 4x4 entrance. Your husband can walk to Blue shutters to pick you up a snack.

http://www.riparks.com/eastbeach.htm

Watch Hill is a nice hit.

Dog Watch Cafe in Stonington has great atmosphere to take in the boats, the water, the dogs!

Great suggestions here. Here's the link for the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme, CT

http://florencegriswoldmuseum.org/

Kitchen little did indeed move, if you go south on 27 to route 1 then take a right on Mason's Island road (the next light), you can follow the signs to it.

Kitchen Little moved! Oh, NO!! :-(

But thanks for the directions.

I should have said go east (left on rt 1) then right on Mason's Island road.

And the breakfast is the same, yummy stuff they always had and they have dinner there too but I haven't had dinner yet. They do have a deck with tables, but are on the second floor which makes for a better view but I didn't notice any handicap access.