Baltimore! Part 3

New Year's Day we woke up hungry. After packing up our suitcases to leave with the doorman for our flight out later in the evening, we set out to find food.  We passed this very cool church. I'm not sure what style you call this but I liked it.

Close up of one of the side doors.

Close up of the Baltimore Washington Monument.

 Our plan for the day was to do a tour of these great ships.  I swear their website said they'd be open on New Year's Day.  They were not.  We had hoofed it downtown to the bay since it was a fairly nice day so we continued on to walk around the area - we hadn't been in this part of Baltimore yet.

The harbor is pretty and there is a nice walkway around much of it.

Madison was threatening to jump in.  She didn't.

They did let her drive a ship.  On the pier.  LOL!

Another of the ships we were supposed to have toured.

And a submarine.  I liked this view showing how narrow it is.

Next stop was this cool little park with this hedge tunnel.

And some fun swings. I joined her in this one and we relaxed in the sun for a bit.  Later, we went to a tiny Italian restaurant where we had GIGANTIC desserts.  Neither of us hardly dented them.  Should have taken a picture!

And then it was time to head to the airport.  Throughout this whole 21st birthday trip, Madison hadn't been carded a single time. Until we were at the airport bar and ordered a beer.

Happy 21st birthday my dear daughter!

Baltimore! Part 2 - New Years Eve

New Year's Eve day was rainy but was extra special and warm in a way that had nothing to do with weather.  I have been friends with a group of women for over 12 years that were all joined through our love of horses.  One of our group passed away just before Thanksgiving leaving us all a little sad.  So it made it that much more special that it would work out that Tree (Teresa) would be able to pick us up in Baltimore and take us out to her farm.

Tree and I are soul sisters.  But we had never met in person. From the minute we hugged and I got in her car, we were finishing one another sentences. She is an amazing person who has left the corporate world to run her own therapy riding business.  Mostly she has autistic kids and adults and they have been able to accomplish amazing things with her!

Madison enjoyed Tree's company but mostly she loved the "hot rocks" that they keep sitting on the wood burner to warm cold hands and feet.  And cheeks.

 Tree's cats loved me. One behind my head, one under my hand..

I hope the joy in our faces expresses how much we enjoyed one another's company.  We got to tour her farm and help fix a fence that a boarder horse had knocked over.  Later we went out for lunch that was FANTASTIC with real Maryland Crab Cakes and tricked Madison into telling a young waiter that he was very handsome, totally making his day.  Later, we spent some time with Mark, Tree's significant man, where we learned that he had told Tree's mom that she was marrying the wrong man, marrying the "safe one" at her first wedding! Luckily she ended up with the right one.

Back at the ranch, I mean apartment, I found myself drinking coffee and putting on makeup at 9:00PM.  Yes, PM.  I haven't done that since I was in my 20's! But it was New Years Eve and we were going to spend our last night in Baltimore doing it up right.

Our destination was decided by the simple fact that Madison had lost an earring on our pub crawl 2 nights before and wanted to go back to the bar where she thought it had fallen out.  When we got there, we saw the bartender who remembered us. But he didn't have it.  Next we saw the owner who said he would look for it and sent us to his other bar next door where the band was playing.

Within minutes, he was back at our sides with the earring!  Unbelievable luck!  While Madison had a rather brave little guy hitting on her, we had a lovely time and rang in the new year with smiles.

Our intention had been to take a Lyft back to the apartment but it was about 5 times as much as it had been to get downtown.  We decided to walk a ways and then try again.  The rain had stopped and it wasn't very cold.  And we passed some pretty spots!

In the end, we ended up walking the entire way back, joined half way by two rather drunk 20-something boys.  But it had been a light day with only 3.21 miles of walking...before midnight.  Since we didn't get back until after 2:00AM, we logged another 2 miles before bed.

Baltimore! Part 1

Back in August Madison had asked me about taking a trip for her birthday - she would be turning 21. She didn't want to be at home where her friends would be pressuring her to get shit faced doing shots. Smart girl.

We had tossed around many different ideas of locations but when I found out her car insurance would be doubling because of a few accidents and tickets, I said we had to go CHEAP!   We found Baltimore to be the place to go.  Some fun stuff to do there, cheap flights, and a great little AirBNB for $50 per night.  We also lucked out with some halfway decent weather - around 50 degrees most of the time we were there which was warmer than Michigan!

We arrived early the first day and set off on foot to explore.  I had read that Baltimore has many murals and we found several right away.

How a mom dresses for 50 degrees with wind and sun....

How a 21 year old dresses for 50 degrees in wind and sun!

One of our stops was at the home of Edgar Allan Poe where he had lived with some family members.

It's a very small house in a not so great neighborhood now.

 Another mural.

The Walters Art Museum was on our agenda for 1:00 where we did a "Fashion in Art" tour that was really interesting and then covered the rest of the place on our own.

This is the Washington Monument in Baltimore.

Back in our little AirBNB apartment, we admired the view of downtown Baltimore from the windows.

You have to loo hard but just left of the tall buildings in the center, you can see one of the bridges over the bay.

We got changed and headed out to dinner at "Duck, Duck, Goose" where Madison had duck for dinner - what she claimed to be one of the best dinners she's ever had!  After, we wandered around a bit before we met up with our tour group for a "Wicked History Pub Crawl".

The Pub Crawl ended up being a ton of fun and we rang in Madison's 21st birthday with a crazy group of three 50 year olds and 2 couples in their early 30's.  While we didn't drink TOO much, we drank more than I have in a long time and stopped for some food before heading back.  I had a big pretzel which I didn't finish.  Madison grabbed it to take with us. After losing it and then finding it in the LYFT, I found it again the next morning in her makeup bag!  Maybe she was a little drunk!

And so we ended our first day with 8.27 miles.

The next day we took the train to Washington DC.  Not the best time to be visiting there with the government shut down but our destination was Georgetown.

The Christmas tree was still up in Union Station.

We were lucky to have another decent weather day on the 30th.

After a walk up the hill, we got the Tudor House where we walked the grounds until it was time for the next tour.  We loved all the great old mansions lining the streets there!

The Tudor House was designed by the same guy who designed the White House and was owned by Martha Washington's granddaughter.  The house stayed in the same family until 1983 when it became a museum.

Do you think she minds modeling?

Me, not so much so!

The master bedroom of the house had this huge closet - very unusual for the time.  I had to take a picture because I remembered this brand of hat box being in my own grandparent's house.  As it turned out, our tour guide had grown up in Detroit and had gone to the same high school as my dad.  Small world.

While the back of the house, looking out towards the bay, is really impressive, the front door is rather unassuming in comparison.

After dinner at Clydes, a famous Georgetown restaurant, and a bottle of wine (half off night!), we got back on the train to Baltimore where Madison promptly fell asleep.

After returning to Baltimore we went to a small bar near our apartment called Sugarvale where we relaxed and celebrated Madison's birthday with a cocktail and a piece of Creme Brûlée pie.

In the "I DID IT MYSELF" Category...

A couple of week ago I got an error message on my 4 year old front load washer and it wouldn't run.  Ugh.  It was right before Christmas and I had just paid for the license plate tabs for all 3 cars.  And Madison's tuition for school.  The thought of paying to get the washer fixed just made me hyperventilate.  And I had some time.

First step, look up the error code.  Okay, it says there is a filter that's clogged. That sounded easy.  I've changed the air filter in my cars and truck before.  Second step, google the directions to do this.  I found a video - gotta love YouTube!

1. Remove 4 screws from the back at the top and take off the top.
2.  Remove more screws and remove the electronics panel at the top front.
3.  Remove more screws and remove the front while carefully removing the rubber gasket from the door and stuffing it inside.

 Three different types of screwdrivers later, I found the filter.  It's WAY back in there.  That made it pretty hard to unscrew that little handle and pull it out but with some yankee ingenuity, I got it.

And yeah, it was pretty clogged up and nasty!!  Not a total shock since I've washed more than a few horse pads and things with cat and dog hair on them.

After I got it all put back together (only needing help with the wire clamp because you just can't do it with 2 hands), I was super proud of myself!!  I'm sure a service call would have been $150+!

Christmas 2018

Both kids were 21 years old this Christmas...well, technically Madison didn't turn 21 until right after Christmas but still.  And its the first year EVER that I didn't take a single picture on Christmas morning.  What does that say?

A friend and I were riding our horses together on Christmas eve afternoon. We were the only ones at the barn.  We were talking about being at this awkward time in life where our kids are "grown up" with their own stuff to do but not old enough to have grandkids for us to spoil (not that we are in a hurry for that!!).  With Austin living with his buddy and Madison living with my parents, I really am sort of an empty nester...even if it's not full time with both of them showing up to stay now and then.

It's a little weird.  And a little nice.  I feel a little guilty,, but not too much.  I know I have this pocket of time right now where nobody needs me TOO much.  Kids are doing good, parents are getting along okay, and the job is fine.  I need to take advantage of this pocket of time...it won't last.