Journal after5's Journal: Megalopolis Meanderings 2
Today my Uncle took me to explore Annapolis and Baltimore. We walked around Annapolis during the morning and had a great breakfast thingy at a small hole in the wall "delly" that was definitely not lacking for business. Breakfast all day, popcorn, pretzels, ice cream, lunches, dinners--a Super Waffle House so to speak. Man was that good.
Annapolis is a charming place really. Lots of little places to just sit and hang out along the harbor. During the day it was kinda ho-hum (everyone opens late and stays open late) but at night those randy Midshipmen come out from the naval academy in their whites and hit on all the young lady folk. It was very fun to watch from my perch safely within the confines of the Marriott Harbor Hotel dining facility. Had a great tilapia dish, I need to grill more fish when I get back home.
I met my Aunt for the first time today, really. Cindy is my Uncle's "partner." I'm sure common law marriage must have kicked in a long time ago, so wife is probably the most accurate. Anyway, she's definitely the kindred spirit of a 60's political activist. She accumulated 4 undergrad degrees and a post-grad and is still looking for her purpose in life. Currently though she's working finding funding for various humane societies to take care of animals. She's definitely a dog person and harbors ideas of a national talk show that would feature interviews with celebrities? political figures? She's very vague and wants to guard her ideas in hopes that she'll get her show on national TV.
Right.
There are two ways on national TV, well, three, but the last (and most successful) is to be a minority running from the cops. Bonus points for inflicting casualties. Anyway, I told her she either needs a lot of venture capital and influential backing, or a huge grass roots movement--ie, get her way from public access to local syndication to national broadcast. My logic had no place in her brain. She's liberal and yet conservative, a Nader fan but a bit more practical. She's unique, and she likes it. Good for her. I don't know how she and my Uncle seem to get along so well, but they've done it for nigh on 30 years maybe, perhaps longer. She's outspoken and a wild-child and he's cool and calculating, seems to be a popular trend.
Oh, also visited the National Aquarium at Baltimore today. It was decent, I'd rank it right below Tennessee's aquarium for everything but one bit: DOLPHINS! I'm a sucker for cetaceans and they had a cool show they called "Play." Basically the trainers show off the dolphins they have (about 6 or so) and how they trained them. Dolphins are so cute, and these were incredibly smart--and really enjoyed doing their routine for the kids.
Although I still think the dolphins we saw in vegas were good, except for that little bastard that was trying to flirt with Manda by showing off his prowess with a frisbee. I got a wee bit tired of this "look at me carry this frisbee in my flipper and do so in the cutest/coolest manner possible!" Some dolphins--sheesh.
Tomorrow will be my greatest driving day I think. I'm cancelling Philadelphia and Boston from my itinery. Just not enough time in the week ahead. I figure I'll need about 3 days to drive back to Atlanta, and another day and a half to reach Maine. So it's an all out battle royale for the northern US. I got some navigational help from Cindy's father, so hopefully I'll be able to bypass any traffic caused by that giant traffic mess that is NYC.
My phone still likes to crash my laptop, so I'll have to find another library to check email and such, until tomorrow kiddos!
dolphins ARE cute... (Score:1)
oh, and I rather liked the cool dolphin tricks in Vegas... I was very impressed.
driving to Maine? (Score:1)