A Weekend in Baltimore

Last weekend we took a little trip down to Baltimore to meet Charles, Elena, and Ava (the girls' dad, his wife, and their half sister) so they could go spend a couple of weeks in North Carolina with them.  Rather than just make the trip in one day, we decided to make a weekend out of it.

Still smiling after 4 hours on the road

Still not smiling after 4 hours on the road

We were sad for the family standing on the side of the road with their suitcases watching their car be on fire. What a not fun way to be on vacation!

The girls did not think it was cool to see our car under water on the GPS as we went through the Ft McHenry Tunnel.

For some this may look gross, but for us it is pure heaven.  We LOVE Fuddruckers' tricked out nachos!  We were on our way to grab dinner Friday night when the girls spotted Fuddruckers.  We used to love going there until they closed the one in Albany.

Lekkis proving that at 5'3" she's still our baby girl

Lulee proving that at 15 you're never too old to jump on the bed.

Dad and his girls

We spent Saturday morning shopping at a huge mall until it was time for the girls to meet up with their dad and head to North Carolina.  Rick and I spent the rest of the afternoon at Baltimore's Inner Harbor, and then treated ourselves to crabcakes and seafood for dinner.  It was so yummy!  I'm bummed I didn't take any pictures of the crab cakes.  They were huge and so amazing!

 We went up in the Observation Tower to check out the view.  It was so pretty!

They also had a nice memorial there for the 69 people from Maryland who died in 9/11, most of them working at the Pentagon.

 We decided to be adventurous and go on the Seadog, a speed boat ride. We will definitely be going again sometime!

Part of the harbor as seen from the Seadog.You can see the aquarium, Hard Rock Cafe, a submarine, and what they call "The Plant" in the background.

Heading out to the open waters.  You can see the Domino Sugar plant here. It was interesting to find out that the dot on the "i" in Domino is 6 feet tall.

 We passed Ft McHenry on our boat ride.  There is lots of celebrating going on in Baltimore right now since it is the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812, thus the writing of the Star Spangled Banner penned in these very waters.

Finally out in the open water and going FAST!  This is our tour guide. I tried to get a picture of his clothes blowing in the wind to give you an idea of how fast we were going.  Yes, he is having to hold on tight here.

 Heading back into the harbor.  Such a beautiful day even if it was hot.

And the best part of the trip (not really but almost?):

 

 One of the things I miss the most living in NY is Baskin Robbins ice cream.  The closest one is 2-3 hours away and we never go that direction.  So I was a little excited to have many to choose from on our way home.  And yes, it was everything I remembered it to be.