Weekend in Baltimore

Quotes from this weekend: 

"I could never live here."... "Why didn't we move here?"... "I could live here if..."... 

"Promise me we'll never live here." "Wouldn't it be so cool to live here?"...

This past weekend in Baltimore was amazing. But we also went back and forth all weekend about "city living". When Andy graduated we considered moving to a big city for him to find a job and I kind-of drug my feet {"I will not leave the Valley" was said a few times I think} about the whole thing.

Although, I did wholeheartedly support moving to Winchester when he interviewed there, I just couldn't convince myself to move to D.C., Baltimore, Virginia Beach or any other big city Andy mentioned. I did agree to Richmond, but Andy was not interested. This weekend gave me a mix of emotions about living in a big city.

Cons:
1) Traffic. Traffic. Traffic. This weekend I told Andy that I would not move to a big city unless a) He made enough for me to be a stay at home mom or b) I could walk to work. My chest hurts anytime we get in crazy traffic.

2) Crime. When I accidentally walked us into a rougher part of town, I realized that 10 blocks can quickly change the type of neighborhood you are in when you're living in a big city. I am a nervous wreck staying home alone in the Valley - imagine me in a big city with 489383 locks on my door.

Pros:
1) ohhh the things to do, see and places to eat. We loved being able to walk to amazing restaurants and fun things to do.

2) Andy has a thing about wanting to live somewhere that you have a bar you go into (preferably below your apartment) and you have your booth and the bartender that knows you. I feel this is because of "How I Met Your Mother" (must watch this show! I'll let you borrow our DVD's). 

Obviously, we've settled down in the Valley, but at 23 I realize that we could definitely be faced with the city living decision sometime again in the future (distant, distant, distant future). But for now, I'll just enjoy our weekend trips to the city and not worry about that!

Now, onto our awesome weekend! First, the food was amazing. We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe, simply because we always do if we are somewhere new that has a Hard Rock (I'd love to visit them all!). So far, together, we've been to Myrtle Beach, Tennessee and Baltimore Hard Rock Cafe's. Andy has been to the one in San Antonio too.

The aquarium was so much fun - even if there were a ton of girl scouts there. Eventually we stopped for a bit and let the girl scouts pass us so that we could enjoy a "quieter" aquarium visit. Favorite parts: 1) Watching the huge turtle get fed 2) Watching the "spitting" fish get fed (aka spitting water at the grasshopper to knock him off the stick, into the water so he could eat him!) and 3) The long, saw nosed shark. Well obviously I didn't go to the aquarium to learn anything (since I don't have any real names for my favorite animals, haha) but I did love checking out all of the different fish, birds, stingrays, sharks, dolphins, etc. at the aquarium.

Black Stingray - I liked him because he was different!

I didn't even see these 3 guys hanging out under the sand, Andy had to point them out!

The big turtle!

Spitting Fish

We also had a great time walking around the Inner Harbor & Fells Point (where our condo was located). Lion statues were very popular around the Inner Harbor...

And now for the awesome restaurants...

Amazing Brunch -- and all you can drink mimosas, sangria & bloody marys!

John Steven Tavern -- Amazing Dinner!

Lunch at the Hard Rock!

And I have to recommend the condo we stayed at in Fell's Point. It was very cute, inexpensive, great location (Fells Point) and we couldn't have been happier! Check out the link to see photos of the condo (which I forgot to take). We are already planning our next trip to Baltimore! 

P.S. - I introduced Andy to IKEA this weekend - he loved it!