Living in DC, we're pretty close to a lot of really cool cities. Instead of staying in town for Black Friday, my sister and I decided to take a day trip to Baltimore.
It only takes about an hour to get there by train and is pretty cheap ($7 each way) if you take the regional route. We misread the train schedule for this day and had to take the more expensive train ($25) to get there, so make sure to double check if you are traveling on a holiday. Or another version is that we slept in and then didn't have time to get coffee and I debated about going to the food car the whole way but by the time I decided to try it we arrived.
We walked out of the train to some very chilly air and looked around. Only a short ways away from DC and it felt like we were in a completely different place. And we were.
I finally figured out where MICA is (nearish the train station) and we walked out to see that cool sculpture in front of the station that reminded us of our favorite burning man remnant, a sculpture of a giant woman tossing her hair as she dances, that used to sit in the middle of Patricia's Green in Hayes Valley, San Francisco. Maybe they are sisters.
We walked over to the bus station to head over to Fell's Point where our brunch spot awaited. While waiting for the bus station, I took photos of graffiti...
and clouds...
While my sister did the responsible thing and tried to get me to find cash so we could get on the bus. We didn't know how much the bus costs (isn't funny how you don't plan when you're traveling closer to home? It's like, oh we speak English we'll figure it out). A simple google search would have solved our mystery, but instead the bus came and we got on and just kept feeding the machine until the bus driver handed us a pass. Turns out we bought day passes. Nice.
Brunch
If you ever go to Baltimore, you must eat at Blue Moon Cafe for brunch. A friend had recommended it and we decided to check it out. It was pretty packed when we arrived, but since there were only two of us we were seated in less than 15 minutes. Which was good, because by then we both badly needed coffee and some food.
After arguing about whether or not to get the Sweet Baby Jesus because my sister didn't like the idea of crab meat in her eggs (to which I said, we are in Baltimore), and thinking the waiter would be too annoyed if we asked for it on the side (to which I said, we are girls ordering food), I just ordered it anyway with crab on the side, smile on the waiter's face. And it was so worth it. Val still says that was the best brunch she's ever had. And she admitted to liking the crab later (though, not so much mixed into the eggs). We also got the Cap'n'Crunch French Toast which was utter perfection. We drank about 17 cups of coffee and made semi-friends with the waiter. It wasn't until mid-way through that we realized they had booze and by then we were so full and happy we didn't care. Brunch for under $20 bucks each? Score.
Afterward, we walked around Fell's Point and did some shopping. I got a beanie that I have already lost and we both got some fleece-lined leggings that we had literally been dreaming of. We enjoyed the buzz of Black Friday at locally-owned boutiques amongst the locals. It was really fun.
Beer
When we were tired of shopping we went to Max's Taphouse. We drank Goose Island Bourbon County Coffee and DuClaw Snickers Sweet BabyJesus. We got them mixed up and then mistakenly ordered the one we weren't so hot about once we made friends and started ordering all the drinks. I still don't know which is the one I really liked. Can someone please explain to me the significance of Sweet Baby Jesus? I mean, twice in one day as the name of a food item? Anyhow, we then went on to have many drinks with strangers and essentially bar hopped the rest of Fell's Point ending at a The Horse You Came In On Saloon (which, let me tell you, is very hard to explain to an uber driver that is not familiar with the area and has clearly never heard of the bar). Along the way we played shuffle board and had some Old Bay tater tots. Once back at the train station we stopped at Dunkin Donuts. All in all I'd say we had a pretty amazing day chillaxing while exploring!
Black Friday
Yeah, so, it was black Friday and we did shop but it wasn't a wait-in-line-buy-all-the-sales kinda shopping, it was a calm, stroll, people watching kinda shopping. Which I really enjoyed. I was the one that would sleep in the car when my sister and mom would go into the Toys'R'Us in the wee hours of the morning because I just wanted to Starbucks that came with the trip to the store. Last year my sister and I actually went to Best Buy on Thanksgiving day because the camera I wanted was on sale. Wow. I can't believe I've had my camera a whole year! That's amazing. I hope you like the photos!
And that's all. Baltimore was fun. We really only saw a very, very small part. When I got home I watched Pecker. I can't wait to go back and find more sweet baby jesus things to eat.
What's your favorite place to visit in Baltimore? Where do you do brunch when you roll through?