The weekend ahead promised to be gorgeous and I felt the call of a road trip pulling at my hiking boots so I hopped in the car early in the morning and headed to Baltimore. I really enjoy long drives alone as I listen to my audio book and stop often when I see something that interests me. The route to Baltimore is a very familiar one. I grew up in York and Baltimore was our "big" city to visit, much like Philadelphia is for us here in Reading now. So there weren't a lot of stops anticipated and I was excited to renew my acquaintance with Baltimore. As I crossed the Mason Dixon line a horrible thought crossed my mind. I had planned a day of inner city boxing and was prepared to face the crowds that a beautiful spring Saturday would surely bring but then I remembered, the Belmont horse race was that same day. My heart plummeted as I realized that the crowds I would be facing would be on the road as well as in the city. I take Rt 83 into and out of Baltimore and the race track is barely a mile off of this route. But, my mood lightened a little as I realized that I was early enough that maybe the traffic would not arrive till later in the day. There ARE some rewards to being an early riser. So I made my way to my first stop at the Maryland Institute of College of Art with little in my way. My worst obstacle was trying to figure out where Mr. Buddha was in this sprawling inner city campus but I finally found him and happily, the box was intact.
From there I headed further in town to the Inner Harbor and enjoyed meandering around the area and collecting boxes and not encountering many other human beings.
I had forgotten about the paving blocks that contained homonyms scattered around the area and I enjoyed walking and reading them.
As I paused to photograph this Raven on a sign hanging on the cemetery fence, I turned my head and was aghast to see the other Raven that Baltimore is famous for. I say aghast because I am a diehard Steelers fan and I was right next to the Baltimore Raven's football stadium. We had actually attended a game here, one which the Steelers won in the last minute of the game, a few years ago. It was quite the experience as eight of us decked out in full Steelers outfits were booed and harrassed the whole way through the game. It was so sweet when our team pulled it out and silenced the fans around us.
It was now time to do a box that I had wanted to do for a long time. We have visited Fort McHenry since the box was planted but when I am with the Immobile One, I need to know exactly where the box is ahead of time and then I must stamp in quickly and not waste any time enjoying the experience so I hadn't obtained this one already. This time I fully intended to enjoy the "big guy's naked tush" as I searched for the box.
And this is the big guy's naked tush! Truly admirable.
I am not a beer drinker so I don't usually associate cities with particular brands of beer but in doing my research for this day, I learned that Baltimore is known for National Bohemian beer. Once I was aware of this, I started noticing little winking men as I was traveling through the city and before the day was over, I had collected two of his images for my logbook.
This day was full of boxes that I have wanted to do for a long time and I was about to obtain another goal as I visited a very interesting art gallery near the Inner Harbor. They made use of every little nook and cranny to display interesting forms of art made from everyday, and some not so everyday, items. I loved this visit and am very happy to have it also checked off of my to do list. As a bonus, there was a wonderful box by Shorty very nearby.
You might think that this next picture is from the art gallery that I had just visited but it was one of the more strange things that I have found in parks in a long time. This painting actually is in the middle of Patterson Park which is also a city park. It remains totally exposed to the elements and most amazingly, it is graffiti and damage free. It was a true example of art in the park although I usually think of statues and sculptures as more realistic examples of outdoor art.
The same park also contained this interesting pagoda. I am always fascinated by pagodas since Reading is pretty well known for our pagoda which is seen for miles around by anyone entering the vicinity. Ours sits on the top of Mt. Penn and this one sat in the middle of a park. The picture below the pagoda is of the city of Baltimore from the Pagoda. Interestingly enough, the tall building with the triangle roof line on the right side of the picture is mentioned in the clues and the planter said she didn't know what it was but used it as a reference for her box. I would soon find out exactly what it was as one of my next boxes was in a park right next to it.
And here it is from the point of view of my next box.
Twelve boxes were now on my completed list and I still had not encountered any traffic nor any sign that a huge horse race was soon ready to take place only a few miles from me. In fact, I wondered if perhaps people who were smarter than me had purposely stayed away from the city, thinking that the traffic would be horrendous and the crowds significant. Silly me for going into the city this day but it actually worked out really well for me since I had no trouble driving, parking or walking anywhere that I wanted to go.
It was now time to head home but there were a few stops I wanted to make along the way. One of them was at Susquehanna State Park in Havre de Grace for a couple of drivebys that had been placed there. I found the first one pretty easily but I was much more fascinated by this wonderful grist mill that it was planted at. And funny enough, this park was much more congested than the city of Baltimore had been.
I love taking pictures of window and this shuttered one on the grist mill was a good one.
The next box that I sought was missing, I think, but the view of the Susquehanna River was reason enough to visit this area. It had been a great day for me, lots of boxes, lots of wonderful places to visit, perfect weather all contributed to making me happy that I had made this trip.
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