A business vacation. Part 1.

Last week Brad's company sent him to Maryland for some training. And they let me go too!! My wonderful brother and sister-in-law came to watch Grace and Claire, and we took Weston (since, as I have mentioned, he won't eat anything yet).

We rented a Prius. Brad insisted. Seriously. I should have taken a picture of him in that little car. Hilarious. But it was worth it. We got 41 miles to the gallon. That includes three hours of me sitting in the running car with the A/C on waiting for Brad to get out of class. Amazing. I want one.

During Brad's first day of class, I explored Baltimore. Just me and Weston. I wanted to see the National Aquarium in Baltimore because I had been to it as a kid and remembered loving it. It was great. My favorite part was the dolphins. They are awesome.

Then Wes and I toured the USS Torsk, a submarine used during WWII. My great uncle was the only casualty on the ship. He drowned when the ship submerged beneath him in training. Someone had failed to sound the diving alarm. Here is Wes in front of the sub.


Then, I went to find a Wells Fargo to pull out some cash to pay for parking. I walked a mile. Uphill. In a lot of humidity, pushing a stroller. And apparently I was in the ghetto because when I stopped at a drugstore, I found the deodorant locked up for "security purposes."

See?





Ah. How I love my camera phone.

Not.

Anyway, eventually I found a bank, navigated stair obstacles with the stroller, and pulled out a grand total of ten bucks to pay for parking.

On the hike back to inner harbor, I realized that my phone was dying. This was bad because I needed it to navigate my way back to the hotel. Luckily, I had seen a Best Buy sign. I thought I would go in to buy a car charger. The thing about city stores is that they are not on the ground floor. It took me a while to figure out where the Best Buy was in the building and how to get up to it. Because I am a country mouse. I am not a city soul. I know. You're shocked.

Anyway, I found an elevator (which smelled like a urinal) and bought the car charger, had someone take a pic of me and Wes in front of inner harbor:


and then I headed back to inner harbor to pay my 9 dollars for parking. Unfortunately I was apparently a few minutes late for the whole day/9 dollar deal (the attendant had a thick Hispanic accent and I still don't understand what I did wrong), and now I owed 22 bucks. Which I didn't have. I would have to repark the car, hike back to the bank, withdraw more cash... I must have looked really flustered in my effort to figure out what to do. And then Weston chose that precise moment to start screaming his head off for the first time on the trip. And the parking attendant had mercy on me and let me go.

I still feel guilty.

I used my newly charged phone to find my way back to Columbia. I waited for Brad to get out of his class, and then we drove to DC for dinner at Fogo de Ciao.

I'm not big on meat, but this place is amazing. I mostly eat from the salad bar and the never ending cheesebread, polenta, and fried bananas. Yum. And the service is nothing short of incredible. Seriously. My water glass never got less than half full, and when we took the last cheesebread from the basket, someone would appear out of nowhere and replace the empty basket with a full one.





See. That is me very happy about the cheesebread. My tightening jeans are making my tummy not so happy.