Baltimore, Well Really, Fell's Point

Wow, every time I get on this blog...I am merely catching up...but anyway here we go: Baltimore, Maryland. Honestly, I had never been too interested in Baltimore. It never really grabbed my attention and I know absolutely nada about this city. But one Saturday we got up and except for Athena, we have never been so we decided to check it out since it is only 1.5 hours away. So here are some tidbits that I thought were important to look up on our way: Baseball team is Orioles and their football team is the Ravens and their soccer team is the Baltimore Blasts. Yep, that is all I looked up. Which later bit us...more on this later.

Baltimore is big on crabs.

(Crabs have a special place in my heart due to theDinglehopper's obsession with them)

So when we arrived, we headed right into downtown and parked by the docks. We thought that the best way to get around was on the water taxi so we purchased an all day pass. Not true, in retrospect, had we moved around in the car, we would have ended up seeing more and paying less for parking and stuff but that's ok. Angel likes boats anyway and it made him happy:

Angel was so excited each time we got on the boat. Lucky for him, several boat trips were made.

Baltimore on February 26, 2012.

We were freezing but we made the effort!

On Sundays, there is only ONE water taxi in service and there are 17 stops it can potentially make so choosing this as our main source of transportation killed us on time. Especially because we literally did not have an idea or clue about what to do or where to go. Athena suggested we find the Lexington Market because it is food bliss...but they are closed on Sundays....boo! So per the suggestion of the boat attendant we went to Fell's Point (after checking out Harbor Place which is a common tourist destination).

Fell's Point is actually a neat historic neighborhood in Baltimore that is home to a slew of restaurants and stores. It is also known to host a TON of bars. I think that if the weather were nice (it was freezing) it actually would have been fun for all of us to hang out here at a park. But our main concern was going indoors and novelty shops and bars/pubs do not heart kids so back to the water taxi we went.

Fell's Point in the A.M.

I thought this was really cute.

I have decided that Athena and I will pay this establishment a visit next time since the name kinda fits anyway (because we grew up in San Diego!).

Since, the trip to King of Prussia (agh, I forgot to write about this...will cover later), Jeffrey has been obsessed with lobster feasting. Problem: Baltimore seems to be a crab city not a lobster city. We figured that since it is a city by the ocean AND they specialize in crabs, how hard could it be to find a decent lobster? We decided to try to make this happen and ended up taking the water taxi a couple more times and making a couple more phone calls to restaurants but each time there was always some sort of issue with the lobsters...so by the end of the day we realized we had spent most of the day on the water taxi. We were cold, hungry, and the lobster mission was eventually discarded so we went to Thames Street Oyster House located in....drummers....Fell's Point! 

It was actually a really cute restaurant and it was fun picking out different oysters for Jeffrey to eat. We did decide that the next time we make a trip we will put more research into it because at the end of the day it felt like we could have explored more or seen more if we had some plan. 

I will definitely like to come back and further explore Mr. Boh (the one eyed Baltimore beer icon; why does he have only one eye?!?! Is it really because he wears a monocle (as some say) or does Gunther (former mascot competitor) really have it?), Lexington market, museums, a couple of neat bookstores that came up on my phone, and I just think it would be cool to walk around some of the neighborhoods. Definitely am making a list before I come out next time. All in all, it was a fun trip and it was in great company!

These are the oysters Jeffrey picked out from a huge list! There are like 4 different types of gooey on this platter 

My seafood salad. It looks like I am about to eat alien but sea creatures don't look like cows so yeaaaa. Included: Jonah crab meat, baby shrimp, calamari, and scallops. I definitely bit down on sand at some points though. Boo.

Fell's Point in the P.M. Love, love, heart the stone road.

So Baltimore will definitely be visited by yours truly again. Also want to attend a baseball game there. And yep, just need to go back again with a little more preparation.