Baltimore Bonanza
Mar. 29th, 2026 01:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
melydiaJason: McDonald's, Burger King, or Taco Bell?
Wyatt: Taco Bell.
Elliott: Burger King.
Jason: You two are gonna have to work that out. I'm only making one stop.
[Wyatt and Elliott each start graphically describing the horrors served by his brother's chosen restaurant and the moral failings of the people who eat there.]
Jason: McDonald's it is!
Yesterday was grand. Jason and I went up to Baltimore for the day as a belated birthday present to me. We started at the Baltimore Museum of Industry, which (as one might guess) is about the factories and canneries that used to populate the city. I drew a couple things - an old delivery truck and a weirdly triangular electric car from the 1970s - while Jason browsed and listened to his audiobook. There was a special exhibit on the Key Bridge, its collapse in 2024, and the rebuilding process (currently scheduled to be completed sometime in 2030). I've driven on that bridge, and I remember seeing the video of its collapse. I don't gasp out loud very often, but I sure did then.
After that we looked for a spot to have lunch but learned that in much of Baltimore, the concept of available parking is purely theoretical. We finally found a spot and started walking to a restaurant that looked good, but on the way we saw Mikey's Pizza and Subs and decided to go there instead. It was one of those tiny hole-in-the-wall places that did only take-out and delivery (not even a single table inside), and man was it tasty. Jason had a sub and I had a stromboli and we both will enjoying some leftovers today. We dined in our car in the parking lot of the next museum of the day, the B&O Railroad Museum. I feel like I've been to train-specific museums before but I don't know if I've seen so many trains in a single place before, both model and full-size. We could even go inside several. I think my favorite model was the one that had recognizable Baltimore buildings, and my favorite full-size was the Pullman club car from the 1950s that had been fully restored.
We stayed there until it closed at 4, paused in the parking lot for about 15 minutes so I could draw a caboose, then headed to Arundel Mills Mall. Our original idea had been to do dinner at Medieval Times but tickets were a hundred bucks a head so we decided to skip it and just browse the mall for a while instead, since neither of us had been there in years. We parked by the Books-a-Million and shortly after we got inside there was an announcement that an unspecified event was going on in the mall, and that we were basically locked down. Like, they were willing to escort us outside through the emergency exit, or we could just hang out in the store until they gave the all clear. We opted for the latter. Luckily, it was a big store and we had no problem browsing happily for the 45 minutes or so until they got word. We never did find out what happened, but about half the other stores never reopened, so I guess a lot of employees just up and left. Still, we had a good time wandering, grabbed some dinner at Johnny Rockets, then headed home, pleasantly exhausted. We both slept very well last night.
That said, it's just after noon and I am already very tired because Jason and I just cleaned the turtle tank. Last time we cleaned it, we put the next cleaning on the calendar in order to avoid going too long in between. And yet, this was still way overdue. But I gotta say, this current filter is the reigning champion for smoothest unhook-reattach-restart process. Almost no mess when we unhook the tubes, priming isn't too tough, and it restarts on its own without interference. I've had a lot of difficult filters in my 26 years of owning a turtle, and this one is probably the easiest since she was a baby in a one-gallon aquarium I could literally pick up and dump out.
It's spring break, so the boys are currently planning to stay with their mom until Wednesday, though we've told them that we're flexible. I've got some chorus and quartet stuff over the next few days, then next Saturday we've got our mini honeymoon dry run (scenic train daytrip). I'm thinking the rest of today will be a chill day.
Wyatt: Taco Bell.
Elliott: Burger King.
Jason: You two are gonna have to work that out. I'm only making one stop.
[Wyatt and Elliott each start graphically describing the horrors served by his brother's chosen restaurant and the moral failings of the people who eat there.]
Jason: McDonald's it is!
Yesterday was grand. Jason and I went up to Baltimore for the day as a belated birthday present to me. We started at the Baltimore Museum of Industry, which (as one might guess) is about the factories and canneries that used to populate the city. I drew a couple things - an old delivery truck and a weirdly triangular electric car from the 1970s - while Jason browsed and listened to his audiobook. There was a special exhibit on the Key Bridge, its collapse in 2024, and the rebuilding process (currently scheduled to be completed sometime in 2030). I've driven on that bridge, and I remember seeing the video of its collapse. I don't gasp out loud very often, but I sure did then.
After that we looked for a spot to have lunch but learned that in much of Baltimore, the concept of available parking is purely theoretical. We finally found a spot and started walking to a restaurant that looked good, but on the way we saw Mikey's Pizza and Subs and decided to go there instead. It was one of those tiny hole-in-the-wall places that did only take-out and delivery (not even a single table inside), and man was it tasty. Jason had a sub and I had a stromboli and we both will enjoying some leftovers today. We dined in our car in the parking lot of the next museum of the day, the B&O Railroad Museum. I feel like I've been to train-specific museums before but I don't know if I've seen so many trains in a single place before, both model and full-size. We could even go inside several. I think my favorite model was the one that had recognizable Baltimore buildings, and my favorite full-size was the Pullman club car from the 1950s that had been fully restored.
We stayed there until it closed at 4, paused in the parking lot for about 15 minutes so I could draw a caboose, then headed to Arundel Mills Mall. Our original idea had been to do dinner at Medieval Times but tickets were a hundred bucks a head so we decided to skip it and just browse the mall for a while instead, since neither of us had been there in years. We parked by the Books-a-Million and shortly after we got inside there was an announcement that an unspecified event was going on in the mall, and that we were basically locked down. Like, they were willing to escort us outside through the emergency exit, or we could just hang out in the store until they gave the all clear. We opted for the latter. Luckily, it was a big store and we had no problem browsing happily for the 45 minutes or so until they got word. We never did find out what happened, but about half the other stores never reopened, so I guess a lot of employees just up and left. Still, we had a good time wandering, grabbed some dinner at Johnny Rockets, then headed home, pleasantly exhausted. We both slept very well last night.
That said, it's just after noon and I am already very tired because Jason and I just cleaned the turtle tank. Last time we cleaned it, we put the next cleaning on the calendar in order to avoid going too long in between. And yet, this was still way overdue. But I gotta say, this current filter is the reigning champion for smoothest unhook-reattach-restart process. Almost no mess when we unhook the tubes, priming isn't too tough, and it restarts on its own without interference. I've had a lot of difficult filters in my 26 years of owning a turtle, and this one is probably the easiest since she was a baby in a one-gallon aquarium I could literally pick up and dump out.
It's spring break, so the boys are currently planning to stay with their mom until Wednesday, though we've told them that we're flexible. I've got some chorus and quartet stuff over the next few days, then next Saturday we've got our mini honeymoon dry run (scenic train daytrip). I'm thinking the rest of today will be a chill day.
