Trip to Maryland Part 1
We got up about 5:30 A.M. on Saturday morning so we could hit
Berlin flea market on the way out. I was a little cranky because I
was tired plus I had taken some Claritin D because my allergies were
really bugging me. I drank some coffee though and I was cool by the
time we got there. Anyway, Jim said he was going to walk with the
baby because we left his stroller home. We all stayed together for
about the first five minutes, then I saw an older black lady with a
stand full of new sneakers all for five bucks. Since I love sneaks
so much I had to look. I ended up buying a pair of high top black
Champions with these cool aqua colored soles and straps. I knew I
had a pair of aqua colored shorts and a black shirt to match so I
bought them. When I got done I looked around and Jim and Sidney were
gone and I was stuck with James walking an inch an hour AND coming
to a complete stop every five minutes and laughing just to screw
with me. I found an old Raytheon marine radio for $15 and I bought
it. In the past anything that has said Raytheon on it has brought me
money so I took a chance. By the time I was done buying that it was
hot as shit so I took the baby back to the car just to drop off the
radio. We did that, then we turned around to go hunting some more
and guess what we saw....freaking Sidney and Jim and he was carrying
a big ass Tecsonic Boom Box. I was so pissed! Had I not been left
with the baby I would have seen it first. They turned around and I
said "I hate you!", jokingly. He ended up giving the boom box to me
anyway but I like to be the one to do the finding.
So we finally left there and got on our merry way to Maryland.
The ride up was nice. He had written out the directions very neatly
this time just for me so I wouldn't have problems reading them to
him. We talked about work and stuff and how so many employees can't
speak freaking English and get mad at us because we don't understand
them. We actually got there pretty quickly because we were chatting
so much.
We found the hotel quickly but we couldn't check in till 3 so
we decided to park our car and take the train the the inner harbor
and see what was up there. The train ride was neat. The kids looked
out the windows and me and Jim talked and snuggled. It took us about
twenty minutes to get to the area. We finally did and Jim wanted to
walk to this place called the Cheesecake Factory which was supposed
to have excellent food and all these different kinds of Cheesecake.
We must have walked about 3 miles before we made it to where the
water was and all the little stores, restaurants, etc. By that time
everyone was cookin'! It had to be about 100 degrees outside. Plus,
there were mobs of people all around. I mean it was so bad you
couldn't even turn your head without being in someone else's face.
While we were walking I saw my very first bum on the side of the
road. I had never seen and actual bum with a can and a sign on him
before. Interesting. Not interesting enough for me to give him money
though. Anyway, we went to this little mall type thingy and found
the Cheesecake Factory. There was a 35-50 minute wait so we turned
around and said to hell with that. We went upstairs and didn't see
any other good places to eat so we decided to take a water taxi to
this other place. The water taxis were pretty cool. Little boats
that take you all around to wherever you wanna go. TIt was a lot
cooler on the boats too. So we got on one and wouldn't ya know, it
drove right past the restaurant we wanted to go to, so we had to
wait till the next stop which was Fell's Landing I believe. There
was a place there called Crabby Dick's. I remember looking at that
in the brochures and laughing and saying "I'm not eating at any
place called Crabby Dick's. Sound's like somebody that has an itch
or something". LOL. We ended up eating there anyway. The whole place
was designed kind of like a boat or something. All the waitors had
long hair, beards, and were scruffy looking, but cute. LOL. Our
waitor Chris took us upstairs to a nice secluded and air conditioned
area and then he gave us some spicy pop corn to munch on. I ordered
a Pina Colada then went to the bathroom. When I came back from the
bathroom Jim said he had been asked to show ID for the drink. I was
like "WTF! Honey, I'm sorry but you do NOT look under 21". I mean
yeah he looks young for his age, but definitely not under 21. I
haven't seen any bald guys under 21 in my lifetime. LOL. So, when
Chris came back he asked me for ID too. We all laughed and then he
looked at my ID and said "Congratulations". Whatever. I ordered the
Sea Scallops of course, Jim had soft shelled crabs, Sidney had
grilled cheese, the baby had a little of everything. They gave us a
free sample of Crab balls too. They were pretty good. I didn't
really like my Scallops because of the way they seasoned them. I
guess I'm so used to them being wrapped in bacon. I still ate most
of them though. Jim let me taste his crabs and I didn't like that
either. Yuck! Too fishy and I'm not really a seafood eater, well
except for shrimp, scallops, and lobster (what else is there?). The
Pina Colada was good. Half way into our meal they started seating
other people in our little section. A white family got sat at the
table across from ours. Their daughter had big ass dread locks in
her hair with purple dye in them, a dog chain around her neck,
black fingernails, and grungy looking clothes. I guess she was doing
a goth/rastafarian type of thing? It was pretty funny. It was cool
though too because I liked how her parents didn't mind her
expressing herself like that and they all still went out as a family
and they were not ashamed of her. That was really cool. Chris was
their waitor too. He carded the mother. Then we figured out that
this must be Chris' gimmick to get bigger tips. Smart man. We had a
good time at Crabby Dick's and when we were done we went into their
souvenier shop and I bought a shirt that said "Wow, what a dick!" on
the back. I just couldn't resist. It was so funny.
After that we looked for a drug store because I had to buy more
feminine items and pullups for the baby (I'd left all that stuff in
the car which was a million miles away). Then Jim hit a few antique
stores. In this one antique shop me and the baby waited outside.
This lady that was sitting in a chair with her dog started talking
to me about Al Green out the blue sky. People in that area were all
exceptionally nice and friendly. Nothing like the poophole I live
in. The baby started getting excited and chasing her dog when it
went into the store. He chased the dog all the way in and touched
its back, then it turned around and barked at him like it was Cujo.
Scared the hell out of the poor baby. He started crying and I had to
try really hard not to laugh at him. It didn't work. LOL.
After all the antique shops it was after 3 so we started making
our way back to catch the water taxi. We did that, got back to the
harbor finally, then had that loooooooooooooong walk back to the
train station. I was dying. I almost passed out 3 times and lost my
breath a few other times. This was not an athsmatic friendly area.
Jim pointed out the fact that he had seen a lot of interracial
relationships there. Not the usual kind though (black man, white
woman), but OUR kind...white man, black woman. As soon as he said
that I noticed it too. I thought that was really great. I was
like "Wow, so there's a part of the world where we (black women)
are loved too? That's wonderful.
We finally made it to the train and thought we were heading
back to our car, but we had gotten on the wrong train! So, we had to
get off and wait for the right train. Damn. When we finally did get
on the right train there was a nice one of "our" interracial couples
snuggled up next to us. We got a kick out of that. We finally got
back and it was after five. We agreed that it was way too hot to do
that again the next day. Fuck the Cheese Factory we said.
We got settled into our room then went right back out to find
out where the ham fest was and to look for a place to eat. We were
going to go to this one place but then I saw an Applebee's so we
went there. I always go for what's familiar. We had "punk" wings (I
call mild hot wings punk wings) for an appetizer, then I had some
HOT wings for my dinner. Jim felt like a burger for dinner, and
Sidney had chicken tenders. Poor James always gets hand me downs. Of
course I had a mucho Pina Colada. It was good but I wouldn't want to
go back to Applebee's for a while. I'm tired of them now.
When we got home my stomach started hurting so I layed down
with Jim. I set the clock and phone for 5 AM for him and then we
watched the movie "Bringin' down the house" with Steve Martin and
Queen Latifah. That movie was so freaking funny! It was about stereo
types and things of that nature but it was really good and really
funny. Eugene Levy was in it and he was funny too! He was in love
with Queen Latifah and knew all of the "black slang" and whatnot.
The funniest part though was when Steve Martin was dancing and when
he tried to dress up in "urban" attire. When he was dancing, he
looked like his old self when he used to do those "Wild and crazy
guy" acts. That was a damn good movie. I would recommend it to
anyone that would love some laughs.
We went to sleep after the movie. Jim fell asleep first even
before the movie was over. He didn't even get to see the part where
Eugene Levy got his hair corn rowed. Damn!
-TO BE CONTINUED-
Berlin flea market on the way out. I was a little cranky because I
was tired plus I had taken some Claritin D because my allergies were
really bugging me. I drank some coffee though and I was cool by the
time we got there. Anyway, Jim said he was going to walk with the
baby because we left his stroller home. We all stayed together for
about the first five minutes, then I saw an older black lady with a
stand full of new sneakers all for five bucks. Since I love sneaks
so much I had to look. I ended up buying a pair of high top black
Champions with these cool aqua colored soles and straps. I knew I
had a pair of aqua colored shorts and a black shirt to match so I
bought them. When I got done I looked around and Jim and Sidney were
gone and I was stuck with James walking an inch an hour AND coming
to a complete stop every five minutes and laughing just to screw
with me. I found an old Raytheon marine radio for $15 and I bought
it. In the past anything that has said Raytheon on it has brought me
money so I took a chance. By the time I was done buying that it was
hot as shit so I took the baby back to the car just to drop off the
radio. We did that, then we turned around to go hunting some more
and guess what we saw....freaking Sidney and Jim and he was carrying
a big ass Tecsonic Boom Box. I was so pissed! Had I not been left
with the baby I would have seen it first. They turned around and I
said "I hate you!", jokingly. He ended up giving the boom box to me
anyway but I like to be the one to do the finding.
So we finally left there and got on our merry way to Maryland.
The ride up was nice. He had written out the directions very neatly
this time just for me so I wouldn't have problems reading them to
him. We talked about work and stuff and how so many employees can't
speak freaking English and get mad at us because we don't understand
them. We actually got there pretty quickly because we were chatting
so much.
We found the hotel quickly but we couldn't check in till 3 so
we decided to park our car and take the train the the inner harbor
and see what was up there. The train ride was neat. The kids looked
out the windows and me and Jim talked and snuggled. It took us about
twenty minutes to get to the area. We finally did and Jim wanted to
walk to this place called the Cheesecake Factory which was supposed
to have excellent food and all these different kinds of Cheesecake.
We must have walked about 3 miles before we made it to where the
water was and all the little stores, restaurants, etc. By that time
everyone was cookin'! It had to be about 100 degrees outside. Plus,
there were mobs of people all around. I mean it was so bad you
couldn't even turn your head without being in someone else's face.
While we were walking I saw my very first bum on the side of the
road. I had never seen and actual bum with a can and a sign on him
before. Interesting. Not interesting enough for me to give him money
though. Anyway, we went to this little mall type thingy and found
the Cheesecake Factory. There was a 35-50 minute wait so we turned
around and said to hell with that. We went upstairs and didn't see
any other good places to eat so we decided to take a water taxi to
this other place. The water taxis were pretty cool. Little boats
that take you all around to wherever you wanna go. TIt was a lot
cooler on the boats too. So we got on one and wouldn't ya know, it
drove right past the restaurant we wanted to go to, so we had to
wait till the next stop which was Fell's Landing I believe. There
was a place there called Crabby Dick's. I remember looking at that
in the brochures and laughing and saying "I'm not eating at any
place called Crabby Dick's. Sound's like somebody that has an itch
or something". LOL. We ended up eating there anyway. The whole place
was designed kind of like a boat or something. All the waitors had
long hair, beards, and were scruffy looking, but cute. LOL. Our
waitor Chris took us upstairs to a nice secluded and air conditioned
area and then he gave us some spicy pop corn to munch on. I ordered
a Pina Colada then went to the bathroom. When I came back from the
bathroom Jim said he had been asked to show ID for the drink. I was
like "WTF! Honey, I'm sorry but you do NOT look under 21". I mean
yeah he looks young for his age, but definitely not under 21. I
haven't seen any bald guys under 21 in my lifetime. LOL. So, when
Chris came back he asked me for ID too. We all laughed and then he
looked at my ID and said "Congratulations". Whatever. I ordered the
Sea Scallops of course, Jim had soft shelled crabs, Sidney had
grilled cheese, the baby had a little of everything. They gave us a
free sample of Crab balls too. They were pretty good. I didn't
really like my Scallops because of the way they seasoned them. I
guess I'm so used to them being wrapped in bacon. I still ate most
of them though. Jim let me taste his crabs and I didn't like that
either. Yuck! Too fishy and I'm not really a seafood eater, well
except for shrimp, scallops, and lobster (what else is there?). The
Pina Colada was good. Half way into our meal they started seating
other people in our little section. A white family got sat at the
table across from ours. Their daughter had big ass dread locks in
her hair with purple dye in them, a dog chain around her neck,
black fingernails, and grungy looking clothes. I guess she was doing
a goth/rastafarian type of thing? It was pretty funny. It was cool
though too because I liked how her parents didn't mind her
expressing herself like that and they all still went out as a family
and they were not ashamed of her. That was really cool. Chris was
their waitor too. He carded the mother. Then we figured out that
this must be Chris' gimmick to get bigger tips. Smart man. We had a
good time at Crabby Dick's and when we were done we went into their
souvenier shop and I bought a shirt that said "Wow, what a dick!" on
the back. I just couldn't resist. It was so funny.
After that we looked for a drug store because I had to buy more
feminine items and pullups for the baby (I'd left all that stuff in
the car which was a million miles away). Then Jim hit a few antique
stores. In this one antique shop me and the baby waited outside.
This lady that was sitting in a chair with her dog started talking
to me about Al Green out the blue sky. People in that area were all
exceptionally nice and friendly. Nothing like the poophole I live
in. The baby started getting excited and chasing her dog when it
went into the store. He chased the dog all the way in and touched
its back, then it turned around and barked at him like it was Cujo.
Scared the hell out of the poor baby. He started crying and I had to
try really hard not to laugh at him. It didn't work. LOL.
After all the antique shops it was after 3 so we started making
our way back to catch the water taxi. We did that, got back to the
harbor finally, then had that loooooooooooooong walk back to the
train station. I was dying. I almost passed out 3 times and lost my
breath a few other times. This was not an athsmatic friendly area.
Jim pointed out the fact that he had seen a lot of interracial
relationships there. Not the usual kind though (black man, white
woman), but OUR kind...white man, black woman. As soon as he said
that I noticed it too. I thought that was really great. I was
like "Wow, so there's a part of the world where we (black women)
are loved too? That's wonderful.
We finally made it to the train and thought we were heading
back to our car, but we had gotten on the wrong train! So, we had to
get off and wait for the right train. Damn. When we finally did get
on the right train there was a nice one of "our" interracial couples
snuggled up next to us. We got a kick out of that. We finally got
back and it was after five. We agreed that it was way too hot to do
that again the next day. Fuck the Cheese Factory we said.
We got settled into our room then went right back out to find
out where the ham fest was and to look for a place to eat. We were
going to go to this one place but then I saw an Applebee's so we
went there. I always go for what's familiar. We had "punk" wings (I
call mild hot wings punk wings) for an appetizer, then I had some
HOT wings for my dinner. Jim felt like a burger for dinner, and
Sidney had chicken tenders. Poor James always gets hand me downs. Of
course I had a mucho Pina Colada. It was good but I wouldn't want to
go back to Applebee's for a while. I'm tired of them now.
When we got home my stomach started hurting so I layed down
with Jim. I set the clock and phone for 5 AM for him and then we
watched the movie "Bringin' down the house" with Steve Martin and
Queen Latifah. That movie was so freaking funny! It was about stereo
types and things of that nature but it was really good and really
funny. Eugene Levy was in it and he was funny too! He was in love
with Queen Latifah and knew all of the "black slang" and whatnot.
The funniest part though was when Steve Martin was dancing and when
he tried to dress up in "urban" attire. When he was dancing, he
looked like his old self when he used to do those "Wild and crazy
guy" acts. That was a damn good movie. I would recommend it to
anyone that would love some laughs.
We went to sleep after the movie. Jim fell asleep first even
before the movie was over. He didn't even get to see the part where
Eugene Levy got his hair corn rowed. Damn!
-TO BE CONTINUED-