This past weekend my husband and I took a Babymoon in Baltimore. What did we do with our son Patrick you might ask? My lovely and amazing parents kenneled their dogs and drove to our house, which is 4 hours away from their house, on Thursday to care for Patrick from Friday until late Sunday afternoon.
Why did we decide to go to Baltimore? Well, we wanted to have a relaxing city adventure but we also wanted to minimize the aggravation. When we first started planning out trip, I was interested in visiting New York City for the weekend. Upon further reflection though, I knew that I was not game for the amount of complication going to New York presents. Baltimore is also a bit of a mystery to me because I have not been there enough that I know it very well. However, every time time I have ever been there, I have had a great time.
We waited until the last minute, the night before we left to be exact, to make hotel reservations in case the weather was bad and we needed to reschedule for another weekend. This ended up being a great idea because we got a very good deal on Priceline. This is not the first time we have opted to use the Express Deal option on Priceline and we have always been pleased with the results. When you opt for the Express Deal, you do not get to see what hotel you will be staying in until after you pay. However, you do get many important details beforehand. For example, you get to see the area you will be staying in, what amenities the hotel offers, and the number of stars that the hotel is rated at and sometimes you can ascertain where you will be staying before you put your credit card number in.
We could not have been more thrilled with our hotel deal. After paying online, we were assigned to the Sheraton in Towson, Maryland and ended up paying a rate that was less than half the average nightly rate. So whoo-hoo!
We opted to stay outside of the city because doing so would align well with our goals of our Babymoon which were to: relax, sleep in, eat where ever and whenever we wanted, walk around the Inner Harbor, visit the National Aquarium, and see a movie at the a theater. We decided that while staying in the city would be nice, most of our goals could be met by staying nearby and driving into the city when we were ready for our city adventures. Besides if we stayed in the city, we would most likely be paying for parking anyway, so why not stay outside of the city–where we could stay at a nicer brand of hotel for less than we would pay in the city.
After we arrived in Towson, a college town a few miles outside of Baltimore, and we quickly made a beeline for a lunch destination. We ended up eating lunch at the Cheesecake Factory located at the mall across from our hotel. One thing we decided about our trip is that we would eat dessert at every meal if we wanted to. My husband ordered Fish and Chips and I ordered the Thai Coconut Lime Chicken, then we shared a piece of Dulce de leche Caramel cheesecake for dessert. Yum! We don’t get to the Cheesecake Factory very often so this was a real treat.
After our late lunch we walked around the Towson Town Center (mall) to walk off some of our fullness then we checked in our hotel. It was after 4pm by this point. Then we checked into our hotel and got ourselves situated. After a brief nap, we decided to go see a movie. We chose Murder on the Orient Express starring and directed by Kenneth Branagh. We both found it very intriguing and interesting as neither of us had ever read the book or seen the previous movie or television adaptations. We also really enjoyed the previews before the movie started. It is the time of year to watch movie previews! We got to see previews for all the big holiday and Oscar bait movies that will be coming out throughout the month of December. I am excited about Downsizing starring Matt Damon and The Greatest Showman starring Hugh Jackman.
After our movie we decided we were hungry again so we headed to Bill Bateman’s Bistro, a college bar/ restaurant in town. We mostly picked this establishment because they had a parking lot and it was easily accessible from the somewhat confusing roads in Towson. My husband also realized that he had eaten there before when visiting a friend and the wings were pretty good. Going to Bill Bateman’s Bistro helped us get in touch with the fact that, despite what we may think, we were in fact getting old. While we were there, we did not recognize any of the songs that the Towson University college students sang during karaoke. At one point a hoard of college students wearing Greek Letters came in to the restaurant and congregated near our table. Some of the young men had a loud and animated conversation that sounded at first like a fight but upon closer inspection was a just an enthusiastic conversation. I thought to myself, “I need to go back to the hotel and go to bed, this is too loud for me”. The food, wings and a meatball sandwich were good but after about an hour, we had had enough.
On Saturday morning we slept in, showered, then ventured into the city of Baltimore. Since took our time leaving the hotel that morning, it was noon before we parked the car in a garage at the Inner Harbor. We began our exploration of the Inner Harbor by finding a lunch spot. We decided to eat at Noodles & Company, a fast casual dining chain that is not located anywhere that I have ever visited before. I chose the Japanese Pan Noodles with marinated steak and my husband chose the Spicy Korean Beef Noodles from the menu. My noodles were large and thick and his were much thinner but we both enjoyed our meal immensely. The dishes were very flavorful and we both remarked how there were many noodle dishes on the menu that we wished we could try. Noodles & Company was a winner!
After lunch, we walked a block to the National Aquarium, the crown jewel of the Inner Harbor. I purchased at our aquarium tickets at my local borough building two days prior so we need to exchange our tickets at the Will-Call window for the timed tickets visitors need to enter the aquarium. One of the reasons I wanted to visit the aquarium so much is because I had a great time visiting it with my 4-H Club when I was a teenager. My husband also had been there as a child and had good memories of his visit. We are both big fans of visiting zoos, so it seemed like a natural fit for our trip.
The aquarium was crowded in the sections that we viewed during the first half of our visit.
However, there was great sealife to be seen at every exhibit. We enjoyed getting to touch an Moon Jelly, Clearnose Skate, and an Atlantic Stingray. In the Tropical Rainforest exhibit, we saw mammels and birds in addition to sealife including a rare Golden Lion Tamarin.
We also immensely enjoyed spending some time looking at the Atlantic Puffins and their northern Atlantic coastal bird relatives. They were very playful and wanted to interact with their spectators.
One of my favorite parts of the aquarium was the exhibit on the Atlantic Coral Reef. It was a large exhibit that consisteed of a a number of large fish tanks where viewers walked down a spiral staircase and could gaze into the tanks. The windows were large and the staircase was long so viewers had time to peacefully contemplate what was in front of them.
Here are some pictures from the Atlantic Coral Reef
After viewing the Atlantic Reef, we took in the sites of the Dolphin Discovery and the Jellyfish Invasion. I loved the jellyfish and sitting in the stands surrounding the dolphin aquarium was so relaxing. We just missed the dolphin show, it was ending as we arrived but we still sat there for at least 20 minutes watching them swim around.
Our visit to the Aquarium wrapped up around 4:30pm. We ended up staying about 3.5 hours there. When we left it was almost dusk. I took these pictures of the landscaping and the ships surrounding the aquarium then.
Earlier that day we made a dinner reservation in Baltimore’s Little Italy for 6:00pm at Amicci’s, a small homely feeling Italian restaurant. We had some time to relax before dinner so we each got a hot drink at Barnes and Noble and sat on their balcony enjoying the view before dinner.
Afterwards we walked the 0.4 miles to Amicci’s and I took these pictures of Baltimore’s Little Italy.
I loved the way the lights hanging above the streets were painted milk jugs. Little Italy was very cozy and the houses intermingled with restaurants reminded me of Pittsburgh’s South Side.
Our dinner at Amiccis started with a glass of red wine for my husband and a virgin Italian Lemonade for me. We ordered an appetizer of Pane Rotundo, a round Italian loaf of bread topped with a creamy shrimp scampi sauce. For dinner, I had the Shrimp Salerno served over fettuccine and my husband had Veil Marsala and we shared a piece of Homemade Tiramisu for dessert.
After dinner we took an ambling stroll back to the Inner Harbor then continued our walk past the National Aquarium and around the Inner Harbor to the Patapsco River. It was quite a walk for this pregnant lady who mistakenly only packed her LL Bean Ugg-style boots that lack ankle support. Here are some pictures of from our stroll. We took some time to explore the Baltimore Christmas Village that will be opening on Thanksgiving (November 23, 2017).
After our stroll, we were plenty tired so we headed back to our hotel for a good night’s sleep. On Sunday, we woke up around am and languidly watched the annual Food Episode of CBS Sunday Morning, a yearly favorite episode of a favorite show of mine. Then we showered, packed, and checked out of our hotel but not before watching at least thirty minutes of Three Men and a Baby on television.
For our final meal in the Baltimore area we chose a breakfast/ lunch restaurant we found on trip adviser called First Watch: The Daytime Cafe. After some internet sleuthing I learned that First Watch is a 10 restaurant chain across Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia. However, it did not feel like a chain while we were there, it felt very homey and unique with its holiday decor and friendly neighborhood cafe feel. First Watch is only open for breakfast and lunch and was featuring a winter seasonal menu during our visit. We started our meal with coffee and ordered a plate of Millionaire’s Bacon for the table. Millionaire bacon must be the food of the gods and it certainly tastes like a million bucks. It is bacon that is mixed with with liberal amounts of brown sugar as well as black pepper and cayenne pepper before it is baked. ( Click on this link for the recipe).
As for our entrees I ordered two Cinnamon Chip Pancakes with butter and syrup. My husband ordered the Chickichanga, a chimichanga of sorts that is made with a eggs, chicken, chorizo sausage, green chilies, monterey jack and cheddar cheese, onions, and avocado and rolled into a tortilla. It is served with fresh fruit and seasoned potatoes. His entree was very savory and each bite featured a myriad of flavors while mine was sweet and comforting.
We left feeling full and satisfied and embarked on our 2.5 hour ride home eager to see our boy.
It was a great trip and I am thankful that my parents watched Patrick and we were able to go. I am glad that we did not wait another month or two to go as I got somewhat winded on Saturday from all the walking and standing.
What adventures have you been up to lately?
Please share if you care to in the comments section.
