I woke up around 8 on Friday and had a few quick bites of a Balance bar before heading downstairs to the gym. I ran on one of their two ellipticals for about 20 minutes and also did a few bench presses, lat pull downs, and arm work. I hopped back to the lobby and had a solid breakfast of eggs with ham and cheese and a Belgian waffle right off of the iron.
We left around 9:30 and began a mile-long walk northwest to one of Edgar Allan Poe's old homes. We actually passed through the University of Maryland-Baltimore medical school. That's where the first dental college in the world opened back in 18?? So we walked past the university and through a pretty dilapidated neighborhood. It wasn't quite the projects, I never felt concerned about my safety, but I would certainly call it low-income housing. Some broken glass on the streets and a lot of small brick homes connected to one an other. So we found the Poe House and it was a small two-story brick house. Although the website said the house opened at 10, the sign on the door told us otherwise. Hours: 12-6:30. No good!
So with that plan thwarted, we began walking another mile east on Lexington Avenue through the same very poor neighborhood. We passed by vendors selling jewelry And we arrived at Lexington Market, which their sign says is world famous. Before heading to Faidley's, we checked out some of the other food merchants. All I can say is it looked like a flea market for food in the projects. One of the staff saw me wearing my Ring of Honor t-shirt and we chatted for a few minutes about the company. So that was really cool. I did think when he tapped me on the shoulder that he was asking for a handout, but no, that wasn't the case, thankfully.
I still wanted to get a taste of Poe before I left Baltimore, just something besides sports and food. So we located his gravesite at the Westminster Cemetery at the corner of Fayette and Greene Streets, only about three blocks away form the market. His mother-in-law and wife are now buried in the same spot as well. I did not see any ravens around, although I was hoping...
We then walked straight east on Lombard St all the way to the Harbor. On our way, we picked up a deck of pinochle cards at CVS. My father plays this game a lot with Scott and his wife in their house in North Brunswick. We also saw the Phoenix Shot Tower, which at 234 feet, was the tallest structure in the United States until 1846. Nearby was the Holocaust Park. There was even a statue of a soldier down on one knee in a prayer-like position with a little girl standing behind him touching his shoulder. Apparently, Baltimore is erecting statues of Tim Tebow...
We went into the Barnes and Noble at the Harbor and spent a half hour browsing around the board games, books, e-readers, and music. I saw a Mitch Hedberg album, who my dad had never heard of, so I spent most of the next hour cracking Hedberg's classic observational humor and wit. Then we made our second stop at Panera, where I settled for water this time. Yes, I thought about grabbing that pumpkin pie bagel again, but I knew I had to save my appetite for dinner later. But my dad had a Panera card of some type and the cashier told us we could get a free smoothie. Sounded good to me, so I ordered a wildberry. Tasted pretty solid.
The shopping areas on the west side of the harbor looked pretty interesting, so we walked that way. J. Paul's looked like a really intriguing contemporary American restaurant, and I'm sure if we had another meal, we would have headed over there. One of the most interesting shops we saw was McCormick's World of Flavor. This place has only been open one month, but I've never seen an other shop like it. They specialize in spices, sauces, seasonings, etc. They even have some interactive features. In the corner was were two big monitors. I pressed the touch screen and a scent came out from these holes in the top. And I had to guess which spice it was. And the more I got correct, the bigger coupon I got off my purchase. I got 3 out of 4 for 15 percent off. The thing is my spice rack is so loaded anyway, there really wasn't anything I saw that I felt we really needed at home! We headed back to the room around 3 and he began teaching me pinochle. I picked up the rules pretty quickly, it just took some time for me to grasp the strategy, like what card to play when. So I had to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em...
We had a dinner reservation at 6 pm, but we had one more stop to make first. Around 4 pm, we walked to the Renaissance hotel, right across the street from the harbor. I had the chance to meet my father's former boss at Barnes and Noble, named Cary. He was in town along with his family, since his niece was getting married. He now lives in Ann Arbor and he is a very friendly, outgoing guy. I also met his parents, his brother, and one of his sisters. Very nice and fun family to hang around, no doubt about it. I wish I still had that opportunity. I drank a bacardi oak and Coke (ok, it was probably Pepsi, sadly) on happy hour and around 5:30, Dad and I left for Fogo de Chao.
I hadn't been to a Brazilian steakhouse in maybe two years and it had been probably five for him. Even thought Morton's or Capital Grille would have been great choices too, Fogo was a place I really wanted to try. One of the highlights was the attentive, friendly service. Dirty plates quickly get replaced by fresh ones, water glasses stay full, and the manager came by and asked if we were enjoying our experience. Also, I was allowed to try a sample of red wine before actually ordering a glass, which is a huge deal for me. For the salad bar, I loved that they feature several types of olive oils and vinegars, along with a pepper mill. I went heavy on the tomatoes, roasted zucchini, artichoke hearts, and thick-sliced bread. And the sopprasetta and proscuitto are so full of flavor, they can't be skipped. They can go a long way towards converting a vegetarian!
And the meat. Ah, where do I start? I wasn't a fan of the linguica, but I went nuts over everything else. Their pork ribs prove that ribs don't need a sauce to taste amazing. The ribeye was cut really thick, I probably had three pieces. The chicken legs were the biggest surprise for me. They had a little spice, the skin crunched, and the meat was moist as could be. And the steak with garlic, well, it's dang near impossible to top. And I made sure to eat a few fried bananas, especially after eating all that meat. They really helped settle my stomach down.
After it was all over, we were both very glad we had a mile-long walk back to the hotel. The one thing that I thought was really strange was the line outside Pickles pub, which is right next to the Hampton Inn. It's just a little dive across from Camden Yards, but even at 7:30 pm, I swear the line must have been 100 people long for sure.
So, we settled in and without a lot of good options on TV, I turned on Undercover Boss. We found it interesting that the boss was the President of Kendall Jackson wine estates. It was like Mom was haunting us and when I told her about it, she thought it was really funny too. Then, we watched an episode of Two and a Half Men. Dad's not a big fan of it, he's never really been into a lot of comedies, but high school football on ESPN wasn't doing it for me. Then we finished the pinochle game, which I won, albeit with a little coaching from him. I challenged him to one more and beat him handily again. I do like the game, I just don't know who I can play it with.
I fell asleep around midnight and woke up around 6:30 Saturday morning. The light rail to BWI Airport arrived about 20 minutes late, but I still made it with plenty of time to spare for my 9:30 flight. This airport seemed really different than any I had been to. At BWI, the longest line was to check in the luggage, maybe 40 people long. But I found a self-service kiosk in no time and I printed my boarding card. But what really surprised me was that there was no wait for the security line. And then, the terminal was essentially empty. Even though the plane was just about full, I made it on, landed around 10:45 and got home just before noon.
Ring of Honor I-PPV live tonight in Chicago Ridge!
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