let the good times begin...

with as much traveling as i've been doing lately, i've begun to dread it. me, dreading travel. seriously. but i've been looking forward to this trip for some time, as i knew it would also provide an opportunity for a little home town vacation.

already, it's been a success:) after getting to see the family and just how big kendyl is getting, dad drove me to baltimore, so i could get about the business of work. it's been an interesting experience. baltimore has been completely alive this weekend--probably in large part due to some homewtown o's games and the warm weather.

it turns out that our first night in town was almost TOO alive. the harbor was packed with people and during our hour and a half wait for dinner (not even kidding) there was some major action. a fight of some sort was taking place across the street, but we couldn't see it through the hundreds of people who had circled around to watch and cheer. yes, cheer. it was sheer madness. mostly african american teenagers - maybe some of them were over 18 but not many - running through the streets without paying attention to the oncoming cars, just to get a glimpse of someone being beaten. from the comments we overheard, it seemed that the fight was pretty lopsided, and given the large presence of police and rescue personnel in the area, our little group of three was surprised at how long it took to stop the madness.

once we were finally seated for dinner, things seemed to calm down for a bit. we enjoyed the patio of the cheesecake factory, overlooking the harbor, watching the phenomenal lightning show. but it wasn't long before things seemed to heat up again. in fact, it was about 10 o'clock, and we saw/heard that new diners were being turned away - that the restaurant had closed. when we asked what was going on (normally they should have been open much later on a weekend night), our waitress informed us that the police had closed all the restaurants in harbor place down and mandated that nobody else be allowed in the building. i later learned that there were two additional fights that night, which resulted in the prolific use of pepper spray. not sure if i'm using the word 'prolific' correctly there, but you get the idea. we were especially excited when our waitress also added that there had recently been a stabbing on the floor above (in the food court area). oh joy!

the sad thing is, the inner harbor use to be the safe and nice part of baltimore. apparently they've been struggling lately and have been trying to implement a curfew, with very slow moving results.

the next night, our little group, now down to two (myself and julianne) decided to get out of the harbor area and check out the new robert downey jr. movie. the closest theater was out of walking range, and rather than take the easy route and hop in a cab, we opted to use the light rail system.

me and julianne...off on an adventure

i'm almost embarrassed to admit that despite my many visits to baltimore over the years, i've never been beyond the harbor area. i've most certainly never used the public transportation here, and i thought it would be fun. after all, if i can figure out the metro in amsterdam, in a language i don't remotely understand, it should be a breeze in baltimore, right? well mostly right anyway. we did make one misstep which resulted in a bit of a scenic journey. the upside was that we had given ourselves plenty of time, and the scenic return trip gave two 'damsels in distress' the perfect excuse to chat up the hottie on the train for directions.

ooops. got a little "sidetracked."

after we hopped off at the CORRECT stop, we put our iphone google mapping to use in getting us to the theater. we were both excited to see that it was not one of those new mega 40-plex gleaming theaters, but rather a phenomenal brick warehouse type building with oodles more charm than your standard theater.

my kind of dinner and a movie

the movie itself was above average, but not phenomenal. i had high expectations (having LONG been a fan of rdj), and that usually presents a problem. it was predictable, but i appreciated that they didn't necessarily go with the 'perfect' ending. it definitely had its moments and was worth the screening.

after the movie we popped into the next door tapas restaurant for dinner. the restaurant was a phenomenal find. clearly a neighborhood favorite, we took advantage of the al fresco seating and the perfect evening. our service was good, food better, and atmosphere best of all. it was an enjoyable and relaxing way to end the day.

tomorrow marks the last day of the event and i'm looking forward to spending more time with family and friends for the remainder of the week. i'm especially excited to meet baby wood. i've teased lara multiple times over the last few months that if she were to deliver early to coincide with my trip, i wouldn't object. imagine my happy surprise that she complied!

i expect it to be a most excellent week, and when it's done, i get to go home and sunggle with the new love of my life for almost an entrire month before getting on the road again!