Baltimore Bonanza

Now that I have the inauguration post out of the way I can tell you all about the rest of my adventure on the east coast.

JFK was snowy:



I couldn't sleep AT ALL on my red eye flight so I arrived at my final destination ALLLLLLLLLL bleary-eyed and unable to complete full sentences. Luckily, the only thing on our agenda for the day was BOTTOMLESS MIMOSA BRUNCH. Those three words, in that order, are my favorite three words ever.

We went to Kooper's Tavern in the Fell's Point area of Baltimore for BOTTOMLESS MIMOSA BRUNCH. Our waitress warned us that the window for bottomless mimosas ended in an hour and fifteen minutes (stupid flight was delayed because of all that bastard snow in NY), but we are career mimosa drinkers and DON'T YOU WORRY -- we got our $10's worth. And then some. We finally hit the mimosa wall after like five pitchers. Divided by 4 people.

Brunch was followed by shopping in some CUTE stores that, if I was sober and/or not going on 30 hours without sleeping, I would have enjoyed a lot more. Instead, I found a display couch and parked my butt.

We eventually made it back to Danielle and Mike's house where I enjoyed a shower and the best nap EVER. Rejuvinated, CK and Danielle and I ventured out onto the FROZEN TUNDRA to get dinner. The thing that is equal parts awesome and dangerous about CK is that you go "Crab dip and ice cream both sound really good right now" and the next thing you know, you're at a DESERTED grocery store (it was during the Steelers/Ravens game and these people take their football VERY seriously) throwing $30 worth of crab and boxes and boxes of things to deep fry into Danielle's cart. Normally I just go "Crab dip and ice cream both sound really good right now" but I'm too lazy to do anything about it so I have a bowl of cereal.

So we had my idea of the PERFECT dinner: APPETIZERS! Fried ones, even.



And cheeeeese!



The best worst chips I've ever tried:



They put Old Bay on EVERYTHING out there.

Orange you glad for change?



One thing we DIDN'T buy:



What the heck, cookie decorators??

So despite being EXHAUSTED, I had a really great day.

The next day was also awesome because I was in the same company but also because IT SNOWED:



We spent some time oggling our fancy train tickets for the next day:



And then went to lunch at a wacky diner where dusting must be a full time job:



It was right around the corner from the bakery in Ace of Cakes, but I totally wussed out and didn't want to get out of the car to have my picture taken. I could blame the cold but really, I was embarrassed. So instead, we only did a drive-by:



After that, Danielle took CK and me on a driving tour of Baltimore. There are TONS AND TONS of quaint brick buildings and it took me a minute to figure out that I think ANYTHING with brick buildings is quaint because we don't have brick buildings in CA.

Another factoid I discovered while touring the Baltimore area: It was late January and people still had their Christmas decorations up. Lights on and everything. Some even had Christmas AND Valentines decorations up. What's up with that, Maryland??

We decided to brave the FRIGID, FRIGID COLD and hike up a "hill" that looked out over the Baltimore harbor. Danielle was like "Would you rather climb up the stairs (she knew my thighs were BURNING from boot camp abuse) or take the path up the hill?" and I couldn't figure out what hill she was talking about because all I saw was a gentle slope. It's the San Francisco in me, I'm sure.

Here they are standing at the bottom of the mountain:



(And okay, in that picture it defintely looks hilly'er.)

With CK at the summit:



The harbor was frozen:



Danielle and I both have dandruff problems:





Then, after a couple of trips to Target (or before? I don't remember), the three of us had pedicures:



I swear, as soon as I win the lottery I'm getting that stupid tattoo removed.

And then because you can't go to Maryland without eating crab, we went out for some famous crab cakes, where we ate too much and then came home and followed the crab cakes up with more ice cream before we set the alarm for 3:30AM and hit the hay.

[insert inauguration bonanza here]

And then I went home. Tired but inspired. And missing my friends. Wah.