Ocean City, MD
We had an awesome few days staying with Linz and her boyfriend Marlin at the beach. We went out on one of their friends boats and toured around the bay one night at sunset. We found some crabs off the shore, but nothing that was big enough to legally take. Then we went back to the dock to do some "chicken necking" crabbing. They tied the chicken to an end of the rope and the other end to the dock and dropped a few of those in the water. Then you go and test the rope to see if you can feel a crab pulling on it. You slowly pull it up and catch the crab in a net. We caught a couple ones that were too small, but they were surprised how slow of a night it was. I seriously think I'm bad luck when it comes to fishing. Anytime I've ever gone fishing it's dead or I never catch anything. After a slow fishing night we did get a glorious treat when Marlin came home from work with a dozen crabs. They had to teach us how to eat them and they are now one of my top 10 favorite foods. Annie and I also spent a day Assateague Island where they have the wild ponies. It was incredibly foggy right on the beach. When I was in the water you couldn't see more than a few yards out to sea. It was really creepy yet peaceful at the same time. Then we rode our bikes around and got to see the ponies hanging out on the island. Annie had always read the books as a kid about this island and it was something she's been wanting to do for a long time. It was a bummer that we didn't really see any out on the beach in the water, but it was still pretty sweet.
BALTIMORE
We found a couch surfer and went to the Oriels game in Baltimore. They lost to the Red Sox again. (We watched them play each other in Boston)
Washington DC
We didn't have the best welcome to DC. We were in Baltimore the night before and went to an Oriels game and the next day we drove to DC. We were just going a couple hours and I didn't put the lock on the bikes because I figured we would be getting them off the car again when we got there. We showed up at Amanda's house at 1 and it was about 110 degrees out so we went into the house right away to hug and say our hellos. It wasn't 1/2 hour later we walked outside to get our stuff out of the car and my heart sank into my stomach. I was hoping that Annie came out and took them off and I didn't realize she was gone, but unfortunately that wasn't the case. Our bikes were stolen. I loved that bike too. It was a Christmas present 6 years ago and we've had some great rides together. We called the cops and they showed up and we gave them the descriptions of the bikes and she reconfirmed that the chances of them finding them were slim to none. They figured it was just a couple kids walking down the street that took them. The officer did give me permission to knock the kids out if I saw someone riding it around the street.
After that there was nothing we could do, and it wasn't worth ruining our time in DC sulking over the fact that they were gone. We met up with some of Amanda's friends that evening and went to the DC United soccer game. It was a fun game, nothing near as crazy as what I've been to in Argentina, and they lost so that didn't help. It was a good time nonetheless. Annie and I toured the city during the days when Amanda was working. We went to the Holocaust Museum, National History Museum, saw The Constitution and Declaration of Independence at the National Archives. Linda Stubbs from Atlanta also flew up to meet us and drove back to PA with us for HICKMANFEST.
We had some great food with Amanda too. I don't think it'd be possible not too hanging out with her. She literally gets a new cook book everyday and has her own cooking blog. check it out amzingeats.blogspot.com We had some great fish on the grill one evening with her friends and went out to eat another night at an Ethiopian restaurant. We also met up with one of Annie's friends Lloyd and one of Jake's friends from PSU, Firas and had some sangrias.
On the way home we stopped and showed Linda PSU. It's such a better school than Alabama! We went to the Creamery and stayed with Greg & Jan for the night.
That's terrible your bikes were stolen! And some undeserving asshole is riding Anne's bike with a brand new rear tube! Seriously though, that happens all too often. I hear of stolen bikes on a regular basis and it makes me paranoid.
ReplyDeleteHopefully you can replace them soon with even better bikes!