Note: I wrote this on my phone and thought I posted this two weeks ago but I didn’t.
Not all the way caught up with the monthly picture posts, but here’s a current update for a change. I went to Baltimore this week for work. It was my first time on the east coast.
General Impressions
First thing I noticed when we got below the clouds was that it was green. Really really green. I missed Seattle. First thing I noticed when we stepped outside of the airport was that it was humid. Really really humid. I missed the inside of the airport.
- Weather the entire time was really good. Which I wasn’t expecting, because I made the mistake of believing a weather forecast. This 5-day one in particular that seems to have mixed up Baltimore with the abandoned lot where the Terminator makes his time travel landings:
- They fly their state flag a lot. Or at least enough for me to notice. It’s definitely one of the cooler state flags though so I can’t blame them.
- It was a little frustrating knowing that an actual philly sandwich was only 90 minutes away and I didn’t have the time to make the trip.
- Before dinner the second night, we walked to the shore to check out the water. It took me a few minutes but I realized that this was my first time looking at the Atlantic ocean. (Or at least Atlantic water, if you don’t count looking at Chesapeake Bay as looking at the ocean.)
- Denver/OKC game 4 tipped off at 10:45pm. I think Bill Simmons has mentioned that it’s better to be on the west coast for TV viewing. It’d be weird getting used to NBA games starting near 11pm and having to wait until noon for NFL games to kickoff.
- The second night, I was actually sleepy but I had internet access and decided to waste my time on Facebook. The third night, I wasn’t sleepy but I didn’t have internet access so I decided to waste my time on Facebook on my phone.
- I went to an Orioles/Red Sox game at Camden Yards. I’m not a huge baseball fan but I always love going to games. Other than a slight drizzle before the start, it was a great night for a game. Outside of Oriole Park in front of the Camden warehouse there are plaques marking the spots where home runs hit out of the park landed. One plaque is actually on the warehouse, marking where Ken Griffey Jr.’s 1993 home run derby ball hit.
Crab Cakes
Baltimore’s all about their crab cakes. And basically every restaurant says they have the best. I tried 4 of them. Here’s a quick rundown.
Faidley’s Seafood – $12. The best of the bunch and probably the one where the “best crab cake in Baltimore” claims actually had articles to back it up. Good size, good chunks, and seasoned the best. I wish I could have these all the time.
Some pizzeria for lunch – $12. Great. And unexpected since we were in a pizzeria. (Though I read up and it’s not that unexpected because a lot of pizzerias in the area do it since pizza ovens are great for cooking crab cakes.) Chunks of crab for days.
Airport diner – $18 for two. Really really good. Not just good for an airport. It didn’t have many chunks but it also didn’t have much filling. And the best crust of all of them.
Laurrapin Grill – $12. Disappointing. It supposedly had lobster meat also. And a lot of filler. I should know better than to expect massive chunks of crab meat and massive chunks of lobster meat. But they should serve better stuff than what I can get frozen at a supermarket. Steak wasn’t good either. Not sure how the place has 4 stars on Yelp. Service was bad also. This kind of ruined my night.
Snake
First hour of work at the site, I’m sitting there then I look out the door (it was being held open by a door stopper) and I see a guy approaching from outside and I hear him say “Hey there’s a fairly large snake coming in the door” the way I would warn someone about a breeze coming inside. I look down in front of him and this leviathan slithers through the door and turns straight into one of the offices. Then it checked its email and loaded up Cityville. The local employees kept checking it out in the office and coming back out and saying, “oh he doesn’t look happy.” I wouldn’t be happy either if a major aspect of my life was being the scariest thing ever.
One guy took a cardboard box and used a stick to lead the snake inside it from behind. Works on toddlers, not sentient evils. Eventually another guy came down, I forget his name but it was something along the lines of Ace Bravo of the Hero Legion. He pinned the snake’s head down with a yard stick then grabbed its neck. Then he held it up and walked around to let people take pictures and also to terrify me, all with a smile on his face. I hate snakes.