Baltimore Waterfront

June 1, 2011
Day  #20
Millersville MD and Baltimore MD

USS Constellation in Baltimore Harbor

This is supposed to be the last day of the heat wave...I sure hope so! I'm used to hot weather and prefer it to cold, but this is nuts. What adjectives haven't I used yet? The heat is blistering, sizzling, oppressive, searing...Oh heck, it's freakin' HOT.

We drove into downtown Baltimore and parked near the waterfront. We were impressed! Not too many years ago this area was as bad as it gets, not anymore. We walked the area, always seeking whatever shade there was. Between the city newspaper building and the Gallery, we noticed a couple of on-site dressing room trailers and several trailer trucks with film crews and equipment. The names 'Lucy' and 'Desi' were on two of the dressing room doors. Apparently, they are filming something inside one of the buildings...

Another not green shirt!

Lunch was at The Cheesecake Factory, overlooking the harbor. Today no one wanted to sit outside, we even left a table in the 'shady' sun room because it was too hot. And NO we didn't partake of the restaurant's namesake. Our eyes said yes to dessert, or stomachs said no.

Later we stopped in to the Baltimore Visitors Center and met perhaps the pushiest elderly city volunteer ever. She all but insisted that we do whatever she suggested. Actually, she gave us a few laughs as we walked away from the building...

14 foot tall pink poodle in the visitors center...I have no idea why

A trash boat,  A paddle wheel thing in front scoops up floating trash!

The sun was bearing down and we were rapidly melting and seeking an activity that included air conditioning. The answer was a one hour harbor cruise. No walking, no heat and someone tells you things you'd never know otherwise...like you were now floating over the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel, far, far below. Or that Oprah owns a condo over there (doesn't she have one in every city?) or that Tom Hanks owns FIVE condos there. How about Domino Sugar was named because the cubes resembled dominoes? Yup, all the little know facts are on the harbor cruises!

We were 'stick a fork in me, I'm cooked' done with being outside. Later we learned that the downtown area had hit 100 degrees that afternoon. Yikes! At home I would NEVER spend time outside in heat like that!

The rush hour was beginning as we left the city...it's always fun to join in the craziness of rush hour in a strange city. It's a good test for my heart meds too!

Glen Burnie has a Costco and we were passing through so I put the address that I got off the computer earlier in the day into TOMTOM. We needed to pick up a few things and it was on the way home. Got off the exit and went to where TOMTOM told us, which brought us to a fuel tank depot. Nope. We did a u-turn and went the other way from the exit ramp, lots of stores, no Costco. Turned around and put the 'point of interest' shopping center, Costco into TOMTOM and went to where we first went and TOMTOM took us to the middle of the road near some office buildings. This was getting funny! Jim was not to be defeated, he pulled into a Home Depot parking lot and there was the Costco nearby...there was no sign on the street, and trees blocked the view of the stores from the street. We drove right by it THREE TIMES...most difficult Costco to find ever!

Later in the evening we took a short drive to Annapolis. It is an incredibly beautiful town. Looks very much like Newport RI, with the historic buildings and homes. A young mother at the waterfront had told us to visit a candy/fudge/ice cream store on Main Street named Kilwins for a treat and we wouldn't be disappointed. When we walked in the aroma of quality chocolate was enough to make a person weak in the knees....they were making fudge. We were good, didn't even look at the chocolates and only got a small ice cream.


Speaking of candy...how about eye candy? The young men in the Naval Academy walking around town in those 'Officer and a Gentleman' white uniforms? Oh man...

Tomorrow.... a travel day to Pennsylvania