Not sure why so many of these are sideways, but c'est la vie...
We took a family vacation to Baltimore last week. It was a lot of fun! We rode the train up Wednesday night, had dinner that evening, and then got up early Thursday to go exploring. We started with a wander through the Inner Harbor area, where Max found giant anchors to climb.
Then it was on to the aquarium. It was pretty neat, though unbelievably crowded to be a day staff were referring to as 'light.'
You'll of course notice the fish shirt for the visit to the fishies. This was Max and me getting ready to watch the dolphin show. He was pretty impressed, and can now jump like a dolphin (generally involves throwing himself at the ground head first).
Then we headed back across the Inner Harbor to check out the 'pirate ship' - a boat used in the slave days.
We were VERY into being the captain and driving the boat.
That evening, we took the water taxi over to Fells Point for dinner and exploring. It was very peaceful out on the water!
Max LOVES to give big, sloppy kisses.
We saw a shark jaw at the aquarium. This is Max's interpretation of 'skeleton faces.'
Friday, we took the bus out to Fort McHenry. For the record, we learned that it is really inconvenient to rely on public transportation BUT it is super-duper-awesome to ride on if you are 2.
I looked all over creation in 2006 for a fence like this for Bredesen's commercials. Only one in town was on his property. Lo and behold, Fort McHenry is surrounded by 'civil war-style fences.'
They had rehabbed an old jail cell from the fort. Max wanted to 'go in the jail.'
I feel like I made this face a lot as a child:
Then we found some awesome stairs and played fire trucks while Daddy finished checking out the grounds.
One of the park rangers made Max and honorary Jr. Ranger. He was VERY proud of his badge and still asks for it.
Then it was back on the bus and headed to the Baltimore Industrial Museum, which was surprisingly interesting and kid-friendly.
There were wheelbarrow boxes throughout the museum filled with kids' activities. Very popular with us!
We put on safety goggles to watch a demonstration of a machine that cuts the adapters for fire man hoses.
And then we got to PLAY with a real fire man hose.
Which was the highlight, until we found the puzzles, trucks and Legos in the children's activity room.
While waiting for the bus back, a tow truck pulled up to take a car away. It was a great way to pass the time!
Riding like pros by now.
Then it was back to the train station for the ride home.
What a great trip!