Vacation - Part 2

Monday's adventures didn't start until mid-afternoon, since I slept well into the afternoon. I was super exhausted, and Eric had to finally wake me up since I wasn't waking up on my own. We had to rearrange our plans since my sleepiness put us behind schedule. We got cleaned up and headed back to the Inner Harbor area,where we were the night before. On the way there we stopped at a Subway and grabbed a few sandwiches for a late lunch. Once we arrived at the harbor, we bought tickets to see the historic ships situated around the harbor. Our first ship was the USS Constellation. The Constellation was the last all-sail ship built by the US Navy and it is the only vessel still afloat that saw active service during the Civil War. Eric and I both enjoyed touring the ship. There were very few other tourists there, so we were able to explore the ship without having to fight a crowd. After the Constellation we made a quick tour through the Chesapeake. It is a lightship that was commissioned in 1930. We spent much less time in this ship, since we boarded it close to closing time. I learned that a lightship is basically a floating lighthouse. My favorite tidbit I learned though, was that the Coast Guard ships used to have dogs for mascots. Accompanied by the history of some of the more famous dogs, were several pictures of the pooches in action. Next, we wandered around the harbor for a while before returning to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We took a taxi to Little Italy, for dinner at Sabatino's. Their garlic bread was absolutely fantastic. Our meals were delicious as well. Eric had fettuccine alfredo and I had lasagna. We walked back to our hotel, but stopped along the way at a bar in the Power Plant live area (which is like a very miniature version of KC's P&L area) for a few drinks.
Tuesday we got up and around much earlier, so we could see more of the sights we had listed on our itinerary. Baltimore has water taxis that shuttle passengers around the area for a flat fee for the day. We took one to the Fell's Point area for brunch. Before our trip, Eric and I had seen an episode of Diner's, Drive-ins, and Dives that featured a little restaurant called Blue Moon Cafe, located in Fell's Point. Ever since I saw the episode I had been dying to try it out. We both had their signature dish of Captain Crunch French Toast. I thought it was fabulous, but it was a bit too sweet for Eric. After strolling through the neighborhood for a little while, we headed back to the water taxi stop. While we waited for one, we looked at a British Navy destroyer that was docked at the harbor. It was enormous! Once the water taxi arrived, we took it to the aquarium. There were all sorts of cool creatures there. Some of our favorites were: an octopus, a sea turtle that was missing one of it's legs/fins, manta rays, jellyfish, and all kinds of sharks. We spent several hours at the aquarium since it was so big and had so many things to see. After we finished there, we took a very short walk to the USS Torsk. The Torsk is a submarine that was commissioned in 1944. It sank 2 Japanese coastal defense frigates in 1945. Next up, we went back to the hotel to get ready for the Orioles game. The stadium was just a short walk from our hotel so we headed over shortly before game time. Camden Yards, where the Orioles play, is an awesome ball park to visit. The stadium is in a great location and the park is full of vendors. Eric and I had a wonderful time at the game. We sat along the 3rd base foul line. During the game we partook in my favorite baseball activities; we drank beers, ate peanuts and BBQ, and cheered the home team on to a win. Baltimore beat Oakland 5-1. It was a nice finish to our stay in Baltimore. We left the next morning via train for Washington DC.

Vacation - Part 1

So, almost a year has gone by since I have posted anything. I feel pretty pathetic now that I realize how long it has been. I may try to go back and post about some of the things we have done since my last posting sometime soon. While our most recent trip is still somewhat fresh in my mind, I'll go ahead and give everyone a rundown of our vacation.
On Sunday, May 23 Eric and I left our house around 4:00am to get to the airport for our 6:00am flight to Philadelphia. (Us being us, we didn't go to bed until around 1:30 am, so we ended up getting less than 2 hours of sleep.) We made it in time for our flight and boarded the plane like normal. Just when we were about to push back, the captain came on over the intercom and announced that our flight was being delayed because of heavy fog in Detroit(our layover). Everyone was instructed to exit the plane and return to the gate for approximately 2 hours. Eric and I were worried about missing our connecting flight in Detroit to Philadelphia so he called the airline to see if alternate arrangements could be made. He ended up booking us a later flight to Philadelphia. We were so frustrated because we only had a few hours planned for Philly before we boarded a train and headed to Baltimore. Pretty much right after we made the change (probably only an hour had went by) they announced for everyone to re-board the plane since the fog had lifted. I called the airline back and told them we wanted our original seats back since we would probably end up making it on time now. The woman couldn't/wouldn't reissue them, however she told me once we landed to run to our gate to see if we could make our original connecting flight. Once we landed we did just that. They switched our tickets back and that flight ended up being delayed anyway and we waited around for a while.
We ended up making it to Philly shortly behind schedule. We even got our luggage. We were a little worried that it wouldn't make it since we had changed our connecting flight, and then changed it back. We decided to just take a cab downtown to the train station to leave our luggage there. It was pretty expensive for a fairly short cab ride, but it did get us there quicker than a bus or train. We stowed our bags for reasonably cheap and then walked over to the subway for a fast ride to the touristy downtown area. We quickly looked at the Liberty Bell. Neither of us were terribly impressed. I found a review on Frommer's for a supposedly great cheese steak place, so Eric plugged the address in his phone and we let the GPS guide us there. The first part of the walk was nice. We saw several parks, historical buildings, nice homes, and cool shops. However, we quickly were guided into a rather dirty part of town. The restaurant, Cosmi's, was more of a convenience shop with a small kitchen. Eric and I both chose the Cheese steak Trio, that had mushrooms, onions, and peppers. They set up a table outside for us, so that we could eat our sandwiches there. The cheese steaks were alright, but I was expecting something much better since we were in Philly and all. After our lunch we headed back to the historical downtown area. We walked around and checked out Christ Church Cemetery (Benjamin Franklin is buried there), Christ Church, walked in a few shops, and then took the subway back to the train station.
Before boarding the train to Baltimore, the Amtrak employees checked our tickets before allowing us to take the escalator down to the train. We were in the right spot so we proceeded down to wait for the train. Eric put his ticket in his back pocket while we waited. Once the train pulled up, we lugged our suitcases on and tried to shimmy them down the aisles without hitting anyone. The train departed the station shortly after we got on, and after we had walked through a few cars trying to find a seat we heard the announcement that they would be coming through the cars to check tickets. Eric realized his ticket was no longer in his pocket! We stopped where we were and I waited with the luggage while he walked back through the cars to see if his ticket had fallen out of his pocket. He didn't have any luck and we started to get a little concerned. My concern was close to a panic when the conductor chewed us out and told us to take our seats, even when Eric explained what had happened. We found a place to stow our luggage and then found seats for ourselves. When the conductor reached us he told Eric (in a rather unfriendly way) that he had found his ticket. I was so relieved. I thought that Eric was going to get kicked off the train while it was going! Next thing we knew, we were in Baltimore.
We grabbed a cab to the Sheraton. I was impressed by how quickly we got checked in. Our room was on the 25th floor and we had an amazing view. We could even see Camden Yards. After the long day of traveling and walking around in Philly, we both decided to clean up before venturing out to find some food and drinks. We walked a few blocks to the Inner Harbor area. We were both really impressed with the neighborhood. The harbor itself was adorned with old ships and the surrounding area had lots of restaurants and shops. However, it was a Sunday night and we didn't get there until late, so most everything was closed. We ended up walking around for over an hour before we finally went in somewhere. At that point I decided not to even eat because it was getting late and the exhaustion was finally taking its toll on me. Since we didn't eat, our dinner was a few beers at a cool bar/restaurant named Burke's. Following the beers we went back to the hotel and crashed.

Washington DC - Day 4

Saturday was our last full day in DC. We started the day by grabbing a sandwich from Subway and eating it in Dupont Circle. Next we found a stop for the double decker sightseeing bus and got on. The bus drives by all major sights and tourists are able to get on and off the bus at 30 different stops along the way, as they please. The bus drove by such sights as: National Cathedral, Georgetown, Arlington National Cemetery, Lincoln Memorial, and Ford's Theatre, just to name a few. We started our tour at Dupont Circle, stop 11, and didn't get off the bus until stop 1, Union Station. We walked around inside Union Station for a short time and then got back on a bus and rode to Arlington National Cemetery, stop 20. At Arlington we saw the eternal flame at JFK's grave and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. At the tomb we watched the Tomb Guard Sentinels, who guard the tomb 27/7. Upon leaving the cemetery, we took the bus to stop 24, and walked to the Jefferson Memorial. Opposite the Tidal Basin in front of the memorial, people can rent paddle boats and cruise around the basin. Eric and I stopped to see about renting a paddle boat, and were approached by a friendly, single woman who offered to pay the way if she could ride with us. She explained that after numerous trips to DC, she had never been able to convince her husband into taking her. She had decided to ride the boat without him, but didn't think she could do it alone. We thanked her for the offer, but explained that we didn't have enough time to go for the ride. The truth was, we really preferred to go by ourselves. So to back up our story, we walked on over to the Jefferson Memorial to see it up close. Before we left the memorial we walked to the edge, along the water and watched the paddle boaters; planning to head back over to the rental counter to rent a boat of our own. We spotted our "friend" alone on a paddle boat and waved to each other. We didn't want to appear to be liars, so we left after that and missed out on our boat trip. We felt bad that the woman was alone, but we really didn't want to be on the tiny boat with a stranger, since it was sort of a romantic thing to do.
Since the bus had stopped running by this time, we walked to the nearest subway station and took it back to our hotel. We cleaned up and headed back to the area we had just came from to go to dinner. The restaurant we picked out of Frommer's was Oyamel. It is a Mexican restaurant that is also sort of a tapas place. We sat at the bar and each had a Oyamel margarita while we waited for our table to be ready. Instead of the traditional salt rimmed glass, this drink has a salt foam at the top. It was very cool. When we got to the table we ordered a pitcher of traditional margaritas and a bowl of guacamole that they make fresh at your table. After that we ordered a total of 6 dishes, consisting of: Mejillones al tequila con chipotle (steamed mussels with tequila, sautéed garlic and chipotle sauce), Albóndigas enchipotladas con queso doble crema (meatballs in chipotle sauce with crumbled ‘double cream’ cheese and cilantro), Chapulines (the legendary Oaxacan speciality of sautéed grasshoppers, served with shallots, garlic and tequila), Lengua guisada (braised beef tongue with radishes and a sauce of roasted pasilla chili, tomatoes, onion and garlic), Carnitas con salsa de tomatillo (confit of baby pig with green tomatillo sauce, pork rinds, onions and cilantro), and Arrachera con salsa molcajeta y nopales escabeche (grilled skirt steak in a sauce of grilled tomatoes, tomatillos, green onions, cilantro and green chile, garnished with pickled cactus paddle. Even though some of the dishes were a little out of ordinary, it was all outstanding. Our dining experience at Oyamel pretty much marked the end of our trip, since all we did after that was go back to our room to relax and left for home the next day.

Washington DC - Day 3

Friday marked day three of our trip. Eric and I slept in pretty late, like we usually do when we are on vacation. After we got around we walked to a nearby Chipotle and got some tacos. We took our food back to Dupont Circle to eat while relaxing on the benches in the beautiful weather. Following lunch, we purchased our day passes for the subway and then rode to the closest stop to our destination, the National Museum of Natural History. After wandering around inside we saw that there was an IMAX theater, so we decided to see a show. We reviewed our options of movies and chose Dinosaurs: Giants of Patagonia. While we waited for it to start we looked at some more of the exhibits and got something to drink and a cappuccino gelato from the cafeteria. The IMAX show was pretty cool. It was in 3D, and I sat back in my chair throughout a lot of the show since it felt like the dinosaurs were coming at me. Following the show we went back to looking at exhibits for a few hours. Some of the things that we saw were: the Hope Diamond, lots of dinosaur bones, numerous mammals, ancient Egyptian artifacts, various underwater creatures, and countless other items. While Eric and I were at the museum the weather took a turn for the worse. We stepped outside to leave and it was pouring rain. We waited around for it to stop, but it didn't seem like there was an end in sight. Since we had left our umbrellas in the suitcase at the hotel, we went back inside to the gift shop to buy ponchos. I think they were $5 each. They were pretty much large trash bags with arm holes and a hood and ended up being almost completely worthless. It was raining super hard, so the water soaked our feet in less than a minute and the began working its way up our jeans quickly as well. We stopped under some overhangs for breaks from the rain a few times on our way back to the subway. We went back to the hotel to get into some dry clothes since the stupid rain cut our sightseeing short again. Of course the rain stopped shortly after we got back to the hotel. Sitting on the floor in our room, I used my blow dryer to dry our jeans and shoes that we had been wearing. While we were drying off I consulted my Frommer's book and decided on Hank's Oyster Bar for dinner. We walked to the restaurant and had to wait quite a while for a table since the little restaurant was so popular. We ended up getting the corner table on the patio that we had been hoping to be seated at. The meal was full of firsts for me. I had the first oysters that I really enjoyed, my first ceviche, and my first soft-shell crab. We had a great time and enjoyed a delicious meal. We were going to get a few beers to take to our room, but the liquor stores had closed by the time we had made our way back to the hotel. We ended up having some over-priced drinks at the bar in our hotel before going upstairs to go to bed.

Washington DC - Day 2

Before heading out for sightseeing on Thursday, we went to James Hoban's for lunch. It is an Irish Pub across the street from the restaurant we ate at the previous night. To my dismay they were out of bangers and mash, so I settled for Chicken Pot Pie while Eric chose the Shepard's Pie. Both dishes were delicious. With full stomachs, we headed to the nearby subway station. We both found DC's subway system to be very nice; it was clean and easy to navigate. We ended up getting day passes each of the remaining days we were there. Eric and I took the subway to the nearest stop to the National Archives. We had to wait in line outside the museum for almost an hour before getting in. It was pretty hot, and there was no shade so it wasn't much fun waiting. Admission to the National Archives is free and there are lots of interesting things to see. Besides the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights you can see a variety of documents such as the Magna Carta, a map of the battle of Gettysburg, Rosa Parks' police report, and a number of additional items. The lighting in the room where the Declaration of Independence is shown is kept very dim, and the temperature felt cooler than the rest of the building. There are beautiful murals on the upper portion of the domed room. The documents themselves are faded and somewhat difficult to read.

After we left the National Archives we walked to the Capitol Building. I had to take more pictures of the ducks in the pond in front of the Capitol. There is a clear view of the Washington Monument from the front of the Capitol. Unfortunately we were not able to go in the Capitol Building. Our sightseeing was cut short because a storm came up. We quickly made our way to the nearest subway stop and headed back to the hotel. Eric and I got cleaned up and went to dinner at Sala Thai, which was recommended by Frommer's. Frommer's is usually pretty spot on with recommendations, but was wrong about this place. We were not impressed at all. After our disappointing dinner we went back to James Hoban's for a few beers before calling it a night. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the bar had a talented live performer, Willard Dickie, who played guitar and sang cover songs.

Washington DC - Day 1

Eric and I were in Washington DC May 27 - 31. Unlike our usual rushing around to make our flight, we got to KCI with time to spare. Wow!! We arrived in DC around 3:00 Wednesday afternoon. We took a cab to our hotel, located near Dupont Circle. I was starving since we hadn't had lunch yet, so after we got checked in we wandered around to find a place to eat. We came upon a bookstore that had a table set up outside with piles of of cool, old hardcover books for sale. We picked out some to buy, but decided we would come back later since we didn't want to have to take them back to the hotel or carry them around. So we set back out to find some food. After much walking around and a stop at Dupont Circle, we chose Eli's Restaurant, a New York Style deli. We made the wrong decision. Our sandwiches were not very good and also were over-priced.
Following our late lunch, we headed towards the Lincoln Memorial. Even though by the end of the day my feet were tired, and Eric's were blistered, I was happy we walked. We got to see several parks and neat architecture that we might otherwise have missed. The Lincoln Memorial was amazing. The statue of Lincoln was remarkable. On the walls to the sides of the statue were Lincoln's famous speeches. I enjoyed experiencing first-hand the grandeur I had seen on movies. The only thing that damped our experience were the throngs of tour groups full of annoying teenagers. We sat on the steps in front of the memorial for a while and took in the view. From the Lincoln Memorial we walked along the reflecting pool towards the Washington Monument. We stopped several times so I could watch the ducks and take pictures of them. I wished that I had something so I could feed them. Between the reflecting pool and the Washington Monument was the the WWII Memorial. The grassy area surrounding the Washington Monument was full of people playing co-ed softball. Being encircled by the monuments and White House, it looked like a cool place to play. We took a break and sat on the benches facing the monument for a few minutes before heading over to get a view of the White House. I was surprised to find out how far back the White House sat from the surrounding fence. When I had seen it on TV, it never seemed that far. By that time, it was getting late and we were ready to head back to clean up for dinner and drinks. On the walk back to the hotel we walked through the George Washington University area. I could not believe the number of blocks the college and housing spanned. That night we went to dinner a few blocks from the hotel at The Front Page. The menu was full of tasty choices, but we both decided on sandwiches. I had a French Dip and Eric had the Bully Cheese Steak. Both were outstanding. Before heading back to our hotel to crash, we had a few beers.

Phantom

A few weeks ago Eric and I had a super fun Saturday. Merry and Glen (Eric's mom & her husband), drove to KC Saturday morning. After they arrived that afternoon we went to Nebraska Furniture Mart and looked around, which I always enjoy. Then we came back to house to get ready to go out for the evening. We ate dinner at Houston's on the Plaza. Dinner was fabulous. We all chose to start with a salad and move on to the mouth-watering filet for our main course. The main event for the evening was to watch Phantom of the Opera at Music Hall. The show was spectacular. My favorite song of the musical was performed right before intermission, "All I Ask of You." (I have been pulling the song up on YouTube frequently since the show to listen to it.) Following the show we drove to Crown Center to have a drink at Benton's and listen to live Jazz. Unfortunately we were only able to stay for about 30 minutes since it was almost closing time when we arrived. The band, consisting of a vocalist, pianist, bassist, and drummer, was outstanding.