We happened to be visiting Baltimore, MD on a Saturday, followed by Washington D.C. Not only was Saturday one of the best days for free activities and the Farmer's Market in Baltimore, but it was also Armed Forces Day- resulting in an awesome-ly busy, amazing day.
In Baltimore, we started off the day at 7am at their Farmer's Market, which we found to be simply amazing. we had about $20 for groceries and food, and left spending about $23 (oops!), but we got everything that we needed for a while, plus some. People were friendly, and prices were right, and we wish this place was back home.
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| Our farmer's market haul included a huge bag of kale, apples, asparagus, baguette, garlic dill butter, cajun hummus, honey, homemade pickles, and a delicious cup of coffee! |
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| This was only one of the isles of the farmer's market- there was much more! |
Following the farmer's market, Marc researched and found a place called "The Book Thing", which is basically a free bookstore open on Saturday and Sundays. We walked in Saturday morning about 20 minutes after they opened, and learned quickly that you weren't doing it right if you didn't start off by grabbing a box from the back room. We easily filled the box in short time with Issac Asimov books, classic novels, and some "Marc books" (I don't know.. ones with comic book stuff?? :) ). We realized that we were going to have to drive all of these books across America and though we could easily have filled another box, we walked out with our booty, tickled pink, and eager to someday return to Baltimore.
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| The Book Thing- the greatest place ever |
Baltimore was also very surprisingly NOT traffic filled, but that could have just been due to the fact that it was 9/10 a.m. on a Saturday. I don't care why. I loved it!
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| Lovely, calm Baltimore, plus a stadium |
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| A really cool, colorful bridge in Baltimore |
Then, we made the short drive down to Washington D.C. Upon advice from my dad (Roger), we parked as far out as we could and took the subway the rest of the way. (in DC- it's called the metro. It's kind of weird how each city has their own term for the Subway..) We were so glad we did, even though it ended up taking over an hour, due to track construction, forcing us to take a shuttle for 3 stops worth. It turned out to be totally worth it, as on the way there, we learned that it was Armed Forces Day, and whether this is the reason or not, the city was packed with other tourists, kids' class trip groups, and a special tribute to Veterans. We really felt honored to be there on such a special day, and loved walking through the WWII memorial and seeing all of the smiling veterans talking to groups of people.
Again, some of the exhibits were under construction (seems to be our luck on this trip so far..), but we still got around and saw the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument, the White House, a museum, and a bunch of other, really cool looking buildings. Also, it rained. Of course! But it's cool, using an umbrella has always been one of my favorite things. :)
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| Also, before you ask- yes. Yes, I do have an entire album with more than 10 pictures of Marc with the Washington Monument coming out of his head. Don't you worry. Soon enough, I will share it. |
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| WWII Memorial and Veterans. So awesome. |
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| Ooooo... reflect-y! |
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| Lincoln Memorial |
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| Standing in front of the white house, thinking of a better tomorrow |
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| Well this guy just flat out laughed at us, then went back to texting while standing outside of this cool looking building. As if he had never seen someone modeling with an umbrella in Washington D.C.... |
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| My favorite part of the museum- an exhibit about food had Julia Child's kitchen sitting in it. So jealous!! |
After we were spent and our feet hurt, we headed back to the metro station, made our way back to the car, and headed to our hotel for the night (a pretty meh.. place, but you get what you pay for!). We slept wonderfully, and woke, fully rested, and ready to visit Shenandoah National Park in the morning.
-Allie
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| Bonus! |
