![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Washington Slept Everywhere
Jun. 16th, 2005 10:36 pmWell, the trip is long over now, and today while back at work, my skin was starting to peel from my latest burn.
The game was, well, as expected knowing how bad the Astros season has been this year. The pitching was good for a while, but the Orioles were able to keep up their end of the bargain much longer, finishing off the 'Stros 6-1. Camden Yards is a good stadium, definitely the model for all of the great new "old-fashioned" parks that have come along in the last few years. Unlike most of them it lacks odd gimmicks like trains and slides and giant Coke Bottles that take away from the actual purpose of the building.
Before we went to the game, we ran out to Arundel Mills so laura could get some new shorts. As you can guess, a mall is a mall, is a mall, but then I convinced Laura to ditch some of the walking tour we were thinking of, and to drive out to Annapolis. The center of town was really scenic, with well preserved buildings, the statehouse and brick streets. there was even some old tour guide taking people around dressed in his tricornered hat and regalia in the 95 degree heat.
We saw another inlet to the bay, but didn't have a chance to reach out to Chesapeake Bay proper. About the only portion of the Naval Academy we saw was the stadium with it's large GO NAVY spelled in yellow seats across a blue seat background. The drive back and forth was a nice calm one through the hills and forests along the Maryland roadways. Unlike back home, the idea of the frontage road seems foreign, and there's no used car lots, gas stations, Best Buys, or Golden Corrals to be seen on the side of the roads. Even in a well populated area as the middle of Maryland, there were just miles and miles of trees.
Once back in Baltimore, we zipped through town from the Inner Harbor with it's huge ESPNZone and Hard Rock to the gentrified Mt. Vernon neighborhood with the Washington Monument. The monument was probably the tallest structure in the city for many years, but is now hidden in the skyline by the taller buildings down the hill near the harbor. The brownstones around the park were nice, but i was wary of some of the people inhabiting the park, and I found there, as with other places in Baltimore, my protective and defensive side was coming out, always on guard for my sister. Sometimes I get a little too paranoid, even when it was bright daylight.
I guess some of the talk about Baltimore's crime rate had gotten to me.
We then dropped off the car and took the light rail out to Camden Yards and needed to get the tickets from Laura's office. We went into the old B&O warehouse where Laura's offices were. Laura's desk doesn't have a window, but the next one, and the conference room next to it does. There's a great view out of right field from her 8th floor vantage point, and you can open the window and hear the sounds. I would so be in heaven working there. The Orioles are doing really well this year, so Laura has found herself following the team more and more.
I met a few of Laura's coworkers, including Joshua, a really cute guy that sort of set me off as we were there in the office. Laura noticed that I liked him (as she also noticed that I liked the red-headed biker with the great ass a couple of days before) and mentioned that he was Jewish. I said so? She clarified that he was conservative Jewish and was married. I said that was too bad, and that he was still cute. It also made me well aware how horny I was. It also became more evident with the hot guys watching the game would go by as well. I'm telling you guys, the eye candy at baseball games can be very good.
The game ended unceremoniously with the Orioles win, and no fireworks with a weeknight game, and we filed back to the light rail. The next morning I woke up early, put together everything and had my sister drive me back to the light rail station with my suitcase in hand. This was before 6 am. I finally reached the airport just before 7 for my flight an hour later. As I was waiting for my flight to Chicago, the flight to D/FW was going to be delayed for two hours, and all of the passengers were lining up to try to fix their connections.
Both flights were full. The flight to Chicago I spent next to a family that was going on to Hawaii. Then there was the sheer boredom of the 3 hour layover at O'Hare. The flight back to Houston though I was seated next to a smoking hot cubbish man from the center of Illinois who was experiencing his second flight. I was both interested, with dirty thoughts going through my tired brain, and somewhat scared about saying the wrong thing to this guy, just holding out hope that he might be family, but eventually concluding that he wasn't. Still, I got a thrill when his leg would brush against mine inadvertently, and I wouldn't try to jump away. Not pressing against, but not trying to get away either. Some days you just want a parade and you get nothing but a peep.
Now, here, home again, recovering from the experience. Lots of pictures, mostly of things, monuments and buildings to go through. It will be a quiet weekend this time, and then Houston Pride on the 25th. Still, it was good to get out of the state and see something else for a bit. Too bad I didn't wait a week for the cooler weather to hit the east coast!
The game was, well, as expected knowing how bad the Astros season has been this year. The pitching was good for a while, but the Orioles were able to keep up their end of the bargain much longer, finishing off the 'Stros 6-1. Camden Yards is a good stadium, definitely the model for all of the great new "old-fashioned" parks that have come along in the last few years. Unlike most of them it lacks odd gimmicks like trains and slides and giant Coke Bottles that take away from the actual purpose of the building.
Before we went to the game, we ran out to Arundel Mills so laura could get some new shorts. As you can guess, a mall is a mall, is a mall, but then I convinced Laura to ditch some of the walking tour we were thinking of, and to drive out to Annapolis. The center of town was really scenic, with well preserved buildings, the statehouse and brick streets. there was even some old tour guide taking people around dressed in his tricornered hat and regalia in the 95 degree heat.
We saw another inlet to the bay, but didn't have a chance to reach out to Chesapeake Bay proper. About the only portion of the Naval Academy we saw was the stadium with it's large GO NAVY spelled in yellow seats across a blue seat background. The drive back and forth was a nice calm one through the hills and forests along the Maryland roadways. Unlike back home, the idea of the frontage road seems foreign, and there's no used car lots, gas stations, Best Buys, or Golden Corrals to be seen on the side of the roads. Even in a well populated area as the middle of Maryland, there were just miles and miles of trees.
Once back in Baltimore, we zipped through town from the Inner Harbor with it's huge ESPNZone and Hard Rock to the gentrified Mt. Vernon neighborhood with the Washington Monument. The monument was probably the tallest structure in the city for many years, but is now hidden in the skyline by the taller buildings down the hill near the harbor. The brownstones around the park were nice, but i was wary of some of the people inhabiting the park, and I found there, as with other places in Baltimore, my protective and defensive side was coming out, always on guard for my sister. Sometimes I get a little too paranoid, even when it was bright daylight.
I guess some of the talk about Baltimore's crime rate had gotten to me.
We then dropped off the car and took the light rail out to Camden Yards and needed to get the tickets from Laura's office. We went into the old B&O warehouse where Laura's offices were. Laura's desk doesn't have a window, but the next one, and the conference room next to it does. There's a great view out of right field from her 8th floor vantage point, and you can open the window and hear the sounds. I would so be in heaven working there. The Orioles are doing really well this year, so Laura has found herself following the team more and more.
I met a few of Laura's coworkers, including Joshua, a really cute guy that sort of set me off as we were there in the office. Laura noticed that I liked him (as she also noticed that I liked the red-headed biker with the great ass a couple of days before) and mentioned that he was Jewish. I said so? She clarified that he was conservative Jewish and was married. I said that was too bad, and that he was still cute. It also made me well aware how horny I was. It also became more evident with the hot guys watching the game would go by as well. I'm telling you guys, the eye candy at baseball games can be very good.
The game ended unceremoniously with the Orioles win, and no fireworks with a weeknight game, and we filed back to the light rail. The next morning I woke up early, put together everything and had my sister drive me back to the light rail station with my suitcase in hand. This was before 6 am. I finally reached the airport just before 7 for my flight an hour later. As I was waiting for my flight to Chicago, the flight to D/FW was going to be delayed for two hours, and all of the passengers were lining up to try to fix their connections.
Both flights were full. The flight to Chicago I spent next to a family that was going on to Hawaii. Then there was the sheer boredom of the 3 hour layover at O'Hare. The flight back to Houston though I was seated next to a smoking hot cubbish man from the center of Illinois who was experiencing his second flight. I was both interested, with dirty thoughts going through my tired brain, and somewhat scared about saying the wrong thing to this guy, just holding out hope that he might be family, but eventually concluding that he wasn't. Still, I got a thrill when his leg would brush against mine inadvertently, and I wouldn't try to jump away. Not pressing against, but not trying to get away either. Some days you just want a parade and you get nothing but a peep.
Now, here, home again, recovering from the experience. Lots of pictures, mostly of things, monuments and buildings to go through. It will be a quiet weekend this time, and then Houston Pride on the 25th. Still, it was good to get out of the state and see something else for a bit. Too bad I didn't wait a week for the cooler weather to hit the east coast!
