Road Trip

Happy Monday everyone!

This week J & I are planning our road trip to the East Coast. We will be driving from Little Rock to St. Louis, MO to pick up our rental car. Due to franchise issues, we had to rent a car from MO instead of getting it from AR. Its ridiculous, but with a difference of $600, totally worth it. I have lots of family in St. Louis though, so this works out well for us. From St. Louis we'll drive to Columbus, OH for a night, and then on to Baltimore, MD for 3.5 days. We are going to spend a full day in Washington, D.C. too. We opted to drive to Baltimore to catch our flight to Germany instead of flying there from AR because a.) I seriously dislike flying, and b.) We'll be traveling with our dog and one flight with her is enough.

Has anyone ever been to Baltimore? If so, what is there to see and do? We definitely want to go to the Inner Harbor, the Aquarium, and Ft. McHenry. We are also looking forward to eating some fresh seafood. We have reservations one night at a restaurant called Kali's Court, which we found on TripAdvisor. The Orioles are playing while we are there, so we also thought about catching a game. If I can talk J into it, we are going to stop by Charm City Cakes and take a picture! I love Ace of Cakes and wish I was half as good as they are. I can follow a recipe, but I am so not an artist.

J was in DC last summer for five days during a work trip, but I havent been since the 6th grade. We only have one day there, so we are going to make the most of our time. I want to see the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, WWII Memorial, and the Library of Congress. Any other must-see sites? Id like to go to the Smithsonian again, but I dont think we'll have time. J is taking me to Old Ebbitt Grill for lunch. He swears that they have the best Bloody Marys that hes ever tasted. Im game. =) I just finished reading Dan Brown's book "The Lost Symbol" which takes place mainly in DC and it increased my excitement over going. Because of it, I definitely want to go to the Capital Building and check out the ceiling in the Rotunda.

Neither of us have ever been to IN, OH, PN, or MD, so this should be a really fun trip. Germany is only a month away! Js in the living room now, practicing his German with the Rosetta Stone. Guess Id better go brush up too. Tschuss! (Bye!)