Baltimore

Shark
Originally uploaded by art chick.

It's been a long week. But we took a break and took the boys up to Baltimore for the day on Thursday. Hence the funky shark photo.

The first thing Liam noticed when we walked across the street to the Harbor Center? Pizzeria Uno. We drive 20 minutes to Baltimore and he zeros in on a pizza place we have 5 minutes from our house. But it was way early for lunch so we bought our tickets to the aquarium then wandered around the Inner Harbor until our entry time. It took all my resolve to quiet that inner voice telling me that Hard Rock t-shirts are still super cool therefore I must buy one for me and my offspring. I told inner voice that it is no longer 1988 and to shut up. No t-shirts.

Once into the aquarium? It was packed. But people moved along and we saw everything. Liam was totally into it. It's probably the perfect place for him as he was really calm and just engrossed in every single thing he saw. He's Mr. Sciene too, so it was heaven on earth for him. Going to start working Maryland Grandma for a family pass to the aquarium for Christmas this year.

My favorite thing about the aquarium is that it is built upwards instead of outwards. The different floors are all open and you can look down into the ray pool below. The criss-crossing elevators and people-movers were a big hit with the boys. Sean was actually not feeling well, so there were very few photos of him as he wasn't into it and rode on Rusty's shoulders almost all afternoon.

The photos are a bit funky. I didn't want the flash on because it either gives you a big reflective glare or totally distorts the contrast of the what you're shooting. But even without the flash? Everyone else was using theirs and I kept catching it. The shots that did turn out came out kind of artsy so it wasn't all bad. Take for instance the shark - it's real, swimming by the tank we were at. The people behind were using their flash and somehow I got the rainbow effect, which I totally don't mind at all.

A funny thing about our trip? We walked through the Renaissance Hotel on our way in and noticed a few Red Sox fans. Then outside, more Sox fans. By the end of the day, I swear we saw everyone in Boston and their brother in Baltimore. Boston? Had to be deserted last Thursday - they were all in Baltimore for the game. And we saw, what, three people in O's shirts? Way to go, O's fans.

Anyway, we ended the afternoon with a late lunch at Uno's because, you know, Liam's head was going to explode if he didn't get some. We got to sit out on the deck, right on the harbor which was nice. Until the semi-rabid pigeons decided to go all cannibal and go for the left-over chicken wings on the table next to us. Scary. Scary birds.

It started raining as we pulled out of the parking garage. Poor Sox fans came all that way to get rained on in Baltimore.

There are more photos on Flickr, if you click on the shark photo you'll see the entire set.