Unpacking and Tailgating in Baltimore

 Baltimore, MD

This Old Bay Seasoning has been returned to its rightful home

Getting Settled

Today was kind of a day off.  We were going to walk to Federal Hill again and go to a farmers market but the morning got away from us and by the time we were "ready" to go, the football tailgating had taken over the streets near us and we decided to stay in and unpack and get settled.  It has been a very busy action filled 2 weeks leading up to Baltimore so it was nice to take a breather.

As you can see above, I have returned our Old Bay to its birthplace.  This can of Old Bay has traveled 10,700ish miles in our van to get here.  I think we bought it in San Francisco so add some more miles from SF to Seattle to Kirkland.  It is one of the many things we could have done without but chose to carry with us on this journey.  We are slowly using up some of our well traveled pantry items and our bins are slowly getting less stuffed.

Are You Ready for Some Football?

The Baltimore Ravens played the Miami Dolphins today at M&T Bank Stadium which is 3 blocks away from our place.  The game started at 1:05pm so the streets, parking lots, and sidewalks began filling up at around 9am with tailgaters and football fans.  The church across the street sells their parking spots as well as a few other lots 1 block down.  Our neighbors had their grills set up in the street in front of them and had big screen tvs on as well as a DJ spinning the hits before and after the game.  The Ravens suffered what I assume is a surprising loss because they were up by 21 going into the 4th quarter.  I went for a run and when I got back I heard the people on the streets lamenting about The Ravens ability to throw the game away in the last quarter.  The loss didn't stop the party though.  The mobs of people and music lasted well into the early evening.  I think I last noticed it around 8pm.

Our Neighbors and their set up

The church collecting funds for parking / tailgating spots

Revelers with the stadium just behind them in the distance and tailgaters to the right

More tailgating 1 block from us.

We are in the hub of activity during home Raven games.

The rest of the day we (Donna) cooked a curry, we watched some TV, and started planning what we would be doing the rest of our time here.  I feel like there is so much to do between Baltimore and Washington DC.  Will we have enough time?  Only time will tell.

If you missed yesterday's post it is here.