Drive. Pray. Scream?: Day 88: Sea spot run.

A technology glitch (our camera's memory card suddenly and unexplicably corrupted, with lots of pictures on board) nearly derailed our attitudes this morning. But Kelsey saved the day, offering her camera's card and restoring our moods. The process was helped by the appearance of the sun and the break from three consecutive days of rainy weather. Our fun began at the U.S. submarine museum. The hoped-for model of Jules Verne's "Nautilus" was disappointing; just three feet long instead of the imagined 10-feet-plus. But the real Nautilus, the first nuclear sub in the U.S. fleet, was a real treat. We toured it with an audio guide, seeing controls, various hatches, the captain's quarters, and the bunk rooms, in which beds were stacked four tall. The tour was not for anyone who struggles with claustrophobia.

The rest of the day was spent at the incredible Mystic Aquarium. We'd almost skipped it, thinking it couldn't be much different than what we'd just experienced at the Boston Aquarium. So wrong! The highlights of our time were the sea lion show and interacting with beluga whales. The huge, white animals were so relational...there's no other word for it. One in particular stayed right at our eye level and seemed to talk with us, reacting to us with chirps and grins. Another amazing part of the aquarium is its live connection to Dr. Bob Ballard's undersea exploration ship, currently near Santorini, Greece. (Ballard is famous for having discovered the wreck of the Titanic and many other shipwrecks and significant undersea sites. We were able to see what the round-the-clock team of onboard scientists has encountered in the past few weeks. And one of them fielded our questions via a live feed, similar to Skype. There's a website that provides all but the live feed. Check it out: www.nautiluslive.org

Our day wrapped up with a cheesy (on so many levels!) dinner at Mystic Pizza, the restaurant that inspired the 80s movie of the same name. Parts of the Julia Roberts pic were filmed there, too. The pizza was really wonderful and a total break from our usual dinner fare. We ate way too much and enjoyed every bite! The movie may not be memorable, but the pizza is.

We'll sleep better tonight now that rain isn't threatening to wash us away, although I might be awake worrying about that SD card! Any tips on recovery techniques would be greatly appreciated. I fear it's a lost cause, as the computer doesn't even recognize it anymore. Lesson learned...download every night.