Baltimore

Our April full of travel craziness continues with a weekend trip to Baltimore!

This past weekend, we took a road trip to Baltimore - about a 2 hour drive. We started out with a bang and a LOT of thunderstorms on Friday night, but were able to walk around the city on Saturday. It's an interesting city - built around the shipping industry on the Chesapeake Bay. A lot of the "inner harbor" area is new developments in converted old shipyard buildings - or new buildings where the shipyards used to be - so it has a different feel from other cities I've been to. It's a great mix of history while feeling "new".

We found an amazing coffee shop on the harbor - Dad, you'd love that they hand pour every cup just like you do at home! The barista told us about a Privateer Festival going on, so we went to check it out...and by Privateer, she meant Pirate! It was awesome. A pirate band, ship tours, and SO many people dressed up. The below picture doesn't quite do it justice...

And the food of the city is Maryland blue crab! We had dinner on the pier with fresh steamed crabs...in the shell! This made it twice in one week that we needed to be taught how to eat our seafood. This time the fish came with a mallet and no plate - just butcher paper taped to the table. But the work was worth it for that crab - delicious!

 

Mmmm...Crab!

We were in town specifically for the Orioles game on Saturday night, and we had a great time! It was cool, but being the good Minnesotans we are, we packed our long underwear and were cozy. :) The stadium was so much fun to explore! I'm sure Mike will chronicle later in his blog.



Mike Posing with Cal Ripken, Jr.'s Statue and retired number



We also explored the National Aquarium, and a historic ships tour. I loved the aquarium - there were a lot of exhibits, but the highlights for me were dolphin and jellyfish. Oh, and this crazy Amazonian fish that squirts water into the air to surprise bugs flying above them which then fall into the water!



Exterior of the Aquarium on the Inner Harbor



Welcome to the aquarium care of a prehistoric shark fossil!

The historical ships were awesome! 4 different vessels - one a huge old sail boat, another a "light boat" that stood in the mouth of the Chesapeake, a submarine, and a coast guard ship that is the last remaining boat that fought in Pearl Harbor.

I'm just the right height!

Submarine...look at that paint job!

Doors were a bit small...

And so were the beds!