Day 1: Thursday: Flew out of Kansas City pretty early. Our flight was supposed to leave at like 7:40 a.m., but was delayed, and did not actually leave until like 9:00 or so. That was kind of a bummer. Plus, security out of KC was a bugger this time. Uusally it is a 'no sweat' pretty easy, although thorough enough, affair, but this time the TSA checkers were GRUMPY with a capital G. Anyway, we had a good flight and arrived into DC, and got our rental car and basically got out of Dodge. We drove up into the Maryland area, towards Annapolis. Check off another State Capital visited, and Capitol building at least driven by. We did not get to go into the building unfortunately. We took a boat tour of the harbor there at Annapolis. There were a lot of people in the city, and we found out that the Naval Academy's Commencement Exercises were the following day (Friday), so thus explained the large number of people. We drove around some; charming city. Headed on up to Baltimore. Upon first driving into Baltimore, I was initially not too impressed. I was concerned that it bordered on being similar to Detroit, but luckily that impression was short lived. It is a very charming, busy city with lovely old and new buildings. Stayed in a Hampton Inn in Baltimore.
Day 2: Friday: It was raining for much of the day. We went to the Visitor's Center in the morning. The Center was very nice, and the workers there were very knowledgeable and very helpful. Ate dinner at Phillips Seafood Restaurant at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, a nice local restaurant there. I went to the Barnes and Noble right next door; it is in an old factory with a large chimney right in the middle that you walk through now. I can't, unfortunately, remember what type of factory it was right now. Stayed at Garden Inn by Hilton in Baltimore.
Day 3: Saturday: Very much enjoying Baltimore Allison and I went to the National Aquarium in Baltimore in the morning. It was okay...I honestly think we've gone to nicer exhibits in other aquariums before. The building was nice, and we enjoyed it. There were TONS of people, and it was hard to get too close to see many of the tanks and see the fish very well, which is of course upsetting, especially hard for a little kid. We then went to Port Discovery, which is the Children's Museum in Baltimore. Allison of course had a good time there also. We took the free Circulator Bus down to Little Italy and had dinner at a very nice Italian restaurant. Stayed at a remodeled hotel, the Tremont Plaza Hotel which was a real perk for dad!
Day 4: Sunday: Allison and I went to the Maryland Science Center today, after a morning of sleeping in and having lunch at a McDonalds (woo hoo lol) down the street from our hotel. We got there around 12:00 and told dad he could pick us up at 3:30. It got to be 3:00 and we were just getting to the 3rd and final floor, so we gave him a call asking for more time. It was a very cool place, one of the neater science centers we've been to. After we left we left Baltimore and headed up toward Delaware, as I had never been to that state, and Bruce couldn't remember if he had or not. We ended up having dinner at a nice restaurant off the water in a town called Havre de Grace; it was very much enjoyable and very beautiful evening. It went downhill from there as we did not have a hotel reservation. Dad was bargain hotel hunting (especially now that he has found Hotwire deals online for discount hotel rooms). Well, those cannot be found when one just goes hotel to hotel at 10:00 at night. It was not pretty, and dad had a pretty good meltdown before we settled on a Best Western finally.
Day 5: Monday: Beautiful day...left hotel in Wilmington, DE, with not a lot of options in Wilmington. Bruce mainly wanted to get back out of the city ... "I've had enough city!" so we decided to head on into Pennsylvania, and head toward Amish/Pennsylvania Dutch area. Although not as densely appearing populated with tall buildings, etc., the area we drove was pretty dense with businesses along the highway. It was kind of cool how we would be driving along and then come to an area with a wheat field to the side of the highway. As we got closer to the Amish area, there was a lot more open acres of ground with farms and dairy cattle, but it was still very settled. The farms and homesteads are just so beautiful doting the area, with nice, neat, tidy, well maintained homesteads. We drove the area on Hwy 30, and ended up going to Intercourse, PA, which does produce a smile and perhaps a chuckle, but found a neat little touristy village with a plethora of shopping, etc. I particularly enjoyed visitng some of the quilt shops. I told Bruce this is why I need to learn to quilt my own, however, because I cannot affor to buy a $1,500 king size quilt. But, boy, are they lovely! Tonight we are staying in Lancaster, PA, with plans to explore the area tomorrow. Bruce and Allison went to a Lancaster Mosquitoes Minor League Baseball game tonight. They have gone to several other minor league games when we have traveled to areas with teams. :)
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