Day 5 - Baltimore and DC

Day 5 - Mike's House to Baltimore to Washington DC to Baltimore to Hanover, PA

Ok well its about 11 PM and we're on our way to our campsite in Pennsylvania. This has been an interesting day so far. To start, we woke up about 30 minutes later than we were planning, which cut off some of the time that we got to spend in Washington DC. After we got to Baltimore through the disgusting traffic (thank god we have 4 people and could therefore use the HOV lane, otherwise we might still be sitting on the Interstate), we parked at the Amtrak Station in Baltimore and bought our train tickets to DC. The train was really kinda fun. None of us had ever been on one in America, and we were able to find a little rectangle of four seats facing each other so we busted out my laptop and started playing Monopoly! 40 minutes later, we were in DC at Union Station, and we hit the ground running. Too bad it was in the wrong direction. After going about 6 blocks away from the Capitol and Josh stubbing his toe on a rouge concrete block, we got turned back in the right direction and found the capitol. Now, considering we got to DC at 11:25 and had to be on the train at Union Station at 4:05, I'd say its fair to say we were pressed for time. We got to the Capitol and took a few pictures from each side of it, then headed off towards the National Mall.


We made a beeline for the National Archives since our resident history nerd Gray could not live without seeing the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. As we reached the line to get into the Archives, Jason and I decided we wanted to go get a couple of pictures of the Smithsonian Castle and then get back with Gray and Kyle before they were let inside. As we got to the Smithsonian Castle, I get a text from Gray saying they had just been let into the museum. After getting our pictures of the castle, Jason and I ran-ish back to the Archives to re-enter the line to get inside. Once we finally got in, we moved quickly up the stairs to the Rotunda. As we approached, who else do we see just through the golden gates of the Rotunda at the front of the line for viewing but Gray and Kyle. I calmly walked up to the security guard, explained to him that Jason and I were grouped with Kyle and Gray but had gone to the bathroom, and we just wanted to get back with them. The best part was, it worked. So, thanks I guess to Kyle and Gray's patience, Jason and I got right in to view the documents. Let me tell you, we got some nasty glares from the 200+ people in line as we made our way forward. Anyway, by the time that whole fiasco was done, it was nearly 1 PM! We were hungry, but there was no way we were delaying for food. We walk-sprinted over to the White House and got to see something pretty cool. As we approached the sidewalk across the street from the White House, a police officer we would not be able to see the front of the White House for a few minutes. We soon found out why when 3 helicopters, 2 marine and 1 presidential, passed over head. The marine helicopters peeled off, but the presidential one landed on the front of the White House. Jason, thinking fast, ran halfway around the Elliptical Park and managed to get a view of the front of the White House. Since his camera gets 10x zoom, he was able to record a video of the helicopter on the lawn and then as it took off and flew over his head!

I'll post the video later, because it's awesome! Anyway, after that, we took off to the Washington Monument and got our pictures there, and then over to the World War II and Lincoln Memorials.

By the time we got out of the Lincoln Memorial, it was 3:10 PM and we knew we needed to start hurrying. We asked a security guard for directions to the nearest Metro station, and he gave us what sounded like good directions. Wrong. He told us to go 6 blocks down on 21st street from I think Constitution, but after we had gone 9 blocks down, we figured that the directions were crap. Unfortunately, it was 3:35 at this point. After getting directions from a blind man, who was correct, unlike the sighted security guard, we made it on to the Metro, but we had to switch lines a few stops down to get to Union Station. At this point, we were really pushing it, getting on the Red Line to Union Station at 3:52. We arrived at Union Station at 3:57 and took off running to find the trains and then to find our platform, which, of course, was the second farthest one away from us. Yay! We made it onto the train with 1 minute to spare, took separate seats, kicked back and enjoyed the ride back to Baltimore. That's where more fun came. Between bad/confusing directions from the GPS (Sophia is her name) and the drivers of Baltimore, who are the rudest S.O.B.s I have ever had the misfortune of driving around, as well as a wrong turn that took us down a sidewalk along the marina/mall, where we got many confused looks from the mall's patrons, it's safe to say that we had a hard time driving the whole 2 miles to get to our parking spot. Hahaha while we were driving by the marina, Jason just started waving at random people and they all started waving back and laughing at us. It was great. Anyway, we finally got parked and headed into Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Two words: Absolutely beautiful.

The atmosphere was amazing, considering the park includes Eutaw Street, which is closed off to traffic and has some great food stands set up, and has an old brick warehouse as the backdrop behind right field. We made our way down to our FRONT ROW seats in right center field and met the people next to us, the Meyers family. Jason's segment will tell you more about the fun we had with them. The game was another awesome high scoring one, including 5 home runs, and the visiting Toronto Blue Jays came away with a 10-8 win, but not before allowing the Baltimore Orioles to load the bases in the 9th inning to provide some suspense. We then made our trek to our campsite in Hanover, Pennsylvania, which is surrounded by some very creepy country houses for miles and miles. The Day 6 blog will tell you a hilarious, dysfunctional tale of 4 campers vs. 1 thunderstorm.



Jason's segment will also come later. So will pictures and videos. So yeah. We're gonna go to the invisible Apple store now. Bye

Jason's Segment

First off, I want to apologize for how late this is in getting out to you guys. But nonetheless, here it is. When on our travels, we stopped in a little town called Baltimore. There we met a little boy at the Orioles game named Stephen Meyers. Let me just tell you Stephen’s story. Upon arrival at our seats, I see this pretty awesome kid sitting next to me. Us being new to the town and stadium (and from Texas), we start to make conversation with the boy and his dad, learning about the Orioles, about Baltimore, and about the stadium. During every half-inning or so, the boy would hold up a poster, which I eventually asked what it said. Turning it toward me, he read it saying “Hey, Its my birthday! Toss me a ball!” The fellas and I were so excited for this kid and his birthday that we took it upon ourselves to beg, jab, and otherwise annoy the players until they turned around and noticed either what we were telling them, or what Stephen’s sign said. The opposing team didn’t want anything to do with us, tossing us aside as mere hecklers, which we eventually turned into when we found that they were going to completely ignore us. (which prompted me to heckle them with the “oh-so-intimidating” “I hate being ignored” heckle. FINALLY the right and center fielders for the Orioles start to look up and see what we’re yelling about (but still pulling the “I’m really looking at the scoreboard” bit). All we needed was a flyball to either of them for a 3rd out and we’d be set. Well sure enough, in that same inning, the centerfielder catches the 3rd out, roughly 20 ft from the wall, which he then nonchalantly tossed up to the kid. It made all of our days and to see Stephen’s face light up was a great sight.
Stephen Meyers if you’re reading this, happy birthday again buddy, and I hope we meet again.