Back where we left off before we were so rudely interrupted by a year of school and summer camp, we set out today for another adventure. This year's trip will be a little different than the last two years, as there will be a little less running. We are spending two nights in Baltimore (where this post is emanating from), 3 nights in Bethany Beach (thanks in advance to the Tuckers for hosting us), then we will hightail it to Durham, NC (with a likely lunch break in Virginia Beach), then a night in Richmond, VA, then it's on to Washington, DC (3 nights), and we once again finish up with 2 nights in Philly (assuming no hurricane this year). Normally we don't spend more than 2 nights in any one place, so the fact that we will spend 3 nights in two places is the big change. Nonetheless, we are hoping for another fun road trip with lots of good stories to tell.
The day started off with the always enjoyable frantic effort to get out on the road before it gets oo late in the day. The target departure time was 11 am. Which in my mind meant 1 pm. I have to say that things were going quite well and we were looking decent to leaving pretty close to 11 am, then two things happened. One, the phone starting ringing non-stop with calls for More Than Paper. This seemed to occur about 3-4 seconds after Debbie forwarded the calls to her cell phone, making the calls more difficult and time consuming. Second, we spent a decent amount of time fruitlessly looking for two of Debbie's credit cards. After searching high and low, we gave up. If anyone finds them, don't try and use them. We're watching you!
We finally got on the road at around 12:30. Technically behind schedule, but emotionally ahead of schedule. Again as been the norm on our trips, we can't really start the trip without some stops in Great Neck. Today's winners of our pre-trip stops were, in order, the bank, the post office and Best Bagel (it was lunch time after all). So by the time we got back into the car and were (we thought) ready to go it was already after 1:00. After we got back into the car with our food Debbie asked if we could stop at home to get something, which was fine because I wanted to do the same to get a back up inhaler (and go to the bathroom one last time before hitting the road). Good thing we did this, because as I went to unlock the door and go in I realized two things. One, the door was not in fact locked. And two, the alarm was not in fact on. Oops. So, after gathering and going, I got back into the car and off we were, at around 1:30.
As many of you know, our car not only gets us places, but acts as a mobile office. Before we even left the house (the first time) the laptop was plugged into the printer, which was positioned in the back. We had the mifi ready to go so Debbie could work while I drive. Well, that was the plan. Last year I believe we had laptop issues, and this year it was the mifi's turn. For a good hour along the ever thrilling NJ Turnpike she was unable to get any connection on the mifi. We even pulled into a rest stop and tried the other laptop, which only worked when I used my outstanding tech skills and turned the mifi on and off. We thought this fixed it, but alas shortly we lost the connection again. So, a call to the Verizon tech support was in order. After going through the automated menus, Debbie got a nice tech on the phone who clearly had a magic wand because as soon as she said the mifi wasn't working, it worked. Wow, those Verizon guys are good.
We arrived at our hotel in Baltimore around 5:00, checked in and got settled. A little before 6:00 we went downstairs to get dinner suggestions. After very clearly asking the two nice people at the desk for recommendations of places that locals might go to or that served something Baltimore was known for (read: crabs), they finally came up with a place called Bo Brooks. This was after we had rejected the famous Baltimore dining establishments of Ruth Chris's Steak House and Houlihans.
The restaurant didn't seem too far away on the map, so at first we decided to walk. But shortly we realized that wasn't going to go well, so I hailed a cab, persuaded him to take all 5 of us and away we went. By the way, the only reason we didn't take our own car was because the hotel person said parking was a nightmare at the restaurant. Well, when the cab dropped us off a the restaurant's parking lot (with a bazillion open spots and a sign that said Free Parking) we were a little annoyed. For all of you familiar with Portland, Bo Brooks is basically Baltimore's version of DiMillo's, except they serve crabs instead of lobsters. We asked for a table for 5 and they asked if we had reservations (nope). They said the only tables available were outside, so outside we went - past another bazillion open tables. Anyway, it was kind of nice outside, so it worked out.
After taking quite some time to decide on dinner, and with our waiter's recommendations on what to have and what not to have (he actually talked Ethan out of having crabs - bad sign for a crab place), we ordered and waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. The family that came in after us were so bothered by the wait that they actually left before their meals came (and the dad left a perfectly good beer too). To make the ambiance even nicer, the large family on our other side (a family that Dylan would have liked, for those who know what that means), ordered about 60 crabs, and complained about every one of them. By the end of the meal, after eating ALL of the crabs, they told the manager that maybe 12 of the crabs were good. Unreal. As for our meal, it was OK. Ethan had crab cakes that looked good, and Brian had a combo platter that also looked good. Debbie wasn't too hungry so she had soup and a few shrimps, while I had average sea bass. Drum roll for Amanda's dinner - yup, you guess it, cheeseburger. After we finished eating and paid for our overpriced meal, we hopped back into another cab and went back to the room to get some work done and sleep.
Tomorrow's plan is to go to the Aquarium in the morning, and then head to the Camden Yards area to hit the sports museum and Babe Ruth museum in the afternoon. At night we will be making our debut at Camden Yards for the Orioles-Red Sox game. That is, if the Red Sox decide to play for their manager tomorrow night. That's it for now.
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