Just sitting in the hotel room in Baltimore as the warm weather has finally gone away and we're seeing what we're supposed to be seeing for April....it's a dreary overcast day with the threat of rain looming every second....I've never done a long trip like this before, so everything I'm experiencing is for the first time....and for the first time, we're at a point where we need to do some major planning as we go along....so the three of us are bunkered down here just going step by step as to what we're gonna do for the next couple of weeks...We all knew it was coming, but we just kept delaying and delaying, but today's the day that we really get into the meat of the trip with longer drives and flights for myself....but as my close friends know, all I normally do is a shrug of the shoulders followed by a "We'll figure it out...."
As for the Baltimore experience, the drive into Baltimore was smooth-sailing until we hit the downtown portion and then it was complete chaos....traffic all over the place and police guiding traffic to where they need to go....at the time, all we could think of was how disorganized the city was....we finally made it back to the hotel room only to find out that a water main broke in one of the most important intersections of downtown and that the one block was a massive sinkhole, hence the chaos....I would compare it to having the intersection of Metcalfe and Albert in Ottawa become unavailable to drivers in the middle of rush-hour....not so pleasant...
As we watched the news, I couldn't help but laugh at one man who had his court date postponed because of the water main break....he was going for a child support case (and decided to wear a Steelers jersey to court in Baltimore)...here's a quick portion of the convo on the news...
Reporter: You had your case postponed today....how do you feel?
Deadbeat: I feel like the luckiest guy in the world!
Reporter: Are you going to send those payments post-dated?
Deadbeat: HELL NO! (laughs)
What a deadbeat......I feel terrible for the kids of that loser, but the fact that they would show that on the local news just makes me laugh....As a viewer, I'm not sure if I'm not supposed to be angry or laughing....I guess I went with option 2 :-)
We went to the game despite the fact that city officials were advising people to avoid the downtown area....We ended up getting there fairly early because we were worried about the advisories....
It's a beautiful ballpark with an old school kind of feel.....Fenway is old-school, but Camden Yards has the feel of seeing a game as you would have in the 50's with all the modern-day amenities....for a park that is now 17 years old, it has held up really well....the idea of being able to come in off the street as well just adds to the great character of the park....
Of course, I had to check out the Eutaw St. walkway and it is beautiful with the warehouse in the background....all the different food options I had made me cringe at the idea that I could have bought an all-you-can-eat ticket for just 10 bucks more! Arrrrgghhh....ah well....
Everything is just soooo fan-friendly....the city itself is so friendly and has now surpassed Philadelphia as the most friendly city on the tour so far....the people at the ballpark were so friendly that the usher directed me to my seat and then wiped it off with a towel....lol
On the negative side, there was hardly anyone at the game and there were numerous sections that were empty....there were a bunch of factors that worked against the Orioles including the water main break, Game 7 for the Caps in Washington only 45 minutes away and the fact that the Orioles have been sooooo terrible for sooo long.....As expected, the Angels were able to beat the Orioles and it killed my streak of seeing the home team win....
As I've written this, we've gotten further along with the plans....but just writing about the food at the game last night has made me hungry.... :-)
