O, O, O, Baltimore. . .

We had a lovely time in Baltimore and absolutely THE best way to get to a baseball park—by water taxi! With free parking to boot!

The way we went to the baseball game!

We stayed outside of Baltimore because, in spite of the loss of business due to riots over Freddie Gray’s death. Originally my plan was to go to from Atlanta to Washington to Baltimore on May 2^nd and the game at Camden Yards. That was not to be because the Orioles’ three home games on May 1, 2, and 3 were moved to become home games for the Orioles at the Tampa stadium. Since we were shut out of that game we decided to go directly to Boston, mostly because that game would be between the Red Sox and the “Evil Empire,” aka The Yankees.

So we went Atlanta to Boston, to Washington, to New York, to Philadelphia, to Baltimore, and back to New York our original plan. Whew! I haven’t added up the miles—OK, OK, of course I have: original plan, 1095 miles. Revised plan, 2130 miles. Luckily, we like to drive!

Baltimore was a very surprising city for us. We have spent some time there but it has been many decades since our last visit. We expected some warmth and humidity but we had forgotten the charm of the downtown “Inner Harbor.” It would be fun to come back to see more things that we just didn’t have time for!

Cylburn Arboretum, the house on the grounds. Wouldn't you have loved to have lived here?

This is a red tail hawk on the left and a Coopers hawk on the right, I had no idea they looked so much the same!

They are promoting clean water and wetlands habitat for birds in the Inner Harbor.

It works!!

Also a memorial to Bartimore residents who were killed in the World Trade Center in 9/11

A decomissioned submarine in the Inner Harbor.

I have no idea what this building is! Nor does anybody I have asked.

The landing for the water taxi, we walked to Camden Yards from here.

This was pretty much all we had time to see of Fort McHenry. Maybe next time!

Camden Yards

We went shopping at a shop on the edge of the Inner Harbor. He said his business was off 75%.

So we had to buy SOMETHING! Our daughter has a Rhodesian Ridgeback (actually, she has Two),  so guess what we bought. Don't tell Kathy!

6-8 million dollar condos on the harbor!

And of course, we have to have a photo of Cubby Bear!

In spite of the loss of business from the riots and the cancellation of several conventions, the hotels have not lowered their prices, hence our choice to stay in White Marsh, MD (which, by the way, is a very nice place to stay). We drove into the city and bought an all-day ticket on the Water Taxi. Such a deal! $28 and we can go anywhere the taxi goes (http://www.baltimorewatertaxi.com/Stops%2C-Schedules-002B-0024amp;-Routes.aspx) and it goes everywhere! Including a stop about 4 blocks from Camden Yards. Had we known, we could have parked downtown in the morning (which we did), spent the day in Baltimore, and walked to Camden Yards from the right-downtown parking lot. But we didn’t have our tickets with us so we had to give up our parking spot to go get the tickets. Never again will we leave in the morning without our tickets and Cubby Bear and anything else we might need at the game. We did not have time to go to Ft. McHenry (gives us a reason to go back) but we heard from the fans at Camden Yards an oblique reference to Fort McHenry.

So we went to Camden Yards via water taxi. We started way out—Canton Waterfront Park—went to Fells Point (should have parked here!) and changed to the Red line. Or maybe it was the Yellow Line, it’s kind of hard to tell. You hop off in the inner harbor if you get on the right boat. Just adds to the excitement of using the water taxi.

An oblique reference? Yeah, well, when they sing the National Anthem, if there is an “O,” the Orioles—Orioles, get it?— fans all scream O as loud as they can. We’re told it’s because our national anthem was written in Baltimore and they are (justifiably) proud of that. However, they were playing the Toronto Blue Jays so there was also the Canadian national anthem and the fans also screamed “Ooooooo” when the artist sang “O Canada.” I love baseball!

The Orioles won and there were several homeruns so it was a good game! But aside from the game we did go to an Arboretum which was very nice but it was warm and humid so we didn’t spend a lot of time there.

So, on to New York and five—FIVE!—days in Manhattan including a Mets game and a symphony performance. Well, it’s not a symphony performance like any you’ve ever seen. I’ll tell you more when we get to New York. Yes, we have a car, but we’re parking it for the duration and picking it up again on Sunday, May 18, to drive up to Randy’s cousin Cristina’s house north of New York City. We’ll get to see relatives we haven’t seen since Kathy—our daughter, who is now almost 49—was five!