Day 428
5191 miles
We arrived in Baltimore at 11:15 am on Thursday morning. The gray clouds and fog prevented me from getting a good photo of the downtown skyline as we made our way into the Inner Harbor.
What a great place to tie up for a few days! The entire U-shaped area has been developed into a family-friendly, inviting destination. Within walking distance was the Baltimore Aquarium, Maryland Science Center, American Visionary Art Museum, Baltimore Civil War Museum, parks with playgrounds, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, and an array of shops and restaurants.
Our view from the boat gave us a front row seat to all the traffic in the harbor, including water taxis, a pirate ship, lunch and dinner harbor cruise ships, and dragon paddleboats.
Old Bay is THE seasoning in the Chesapeake Bay. They put it on everything. Following my "When in Rome . . " philosophy, I bought a bag of Old Bay Potato Chips. Mike and Karen liked them, but they were a little too spicy for me and Greg. Friday was National Donut Day and a food truck in the plaza had one with Old Bay sprinkled on the top. That actually wasn't too bad!
Coming into Baltimore, True North passed under the Francis Scott Key Bridge (above) and went by Fort McHenry (below). During the War of 1812, Key witnessed the British attack of the fort. Seeing the American flag still flying the next morning at dawn, he was inspired to write a poem that was later set to music. A century later, President Woodrow Wilson officially designated it as our national anthem.
A peculiar odor filled the air - one we recognized from our years of living in Bay City - the home of Monitor (Big Chief) Sugar.
Inner Harbor
Brick walking path around the entire Inner Harbor
The Constellation - built in 1854 - is the last fighting vessel of the U.S. Navy powered by sails.
The Chesapeake is a Lightship that was used to mark the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay. By 1970, all lightships were replaced with constructed lighthouses and automatic beacons. In front of the Chesapeake is the USS Torsk. This submarine sunk the last Japanese frigate of WW II.
Both of these vessels, along with the Constellation are open to the public for tours.
Federal Hill sits behind the marina. Karen and I climbed to the top, where we had a spectacular view of the Inner Harbor and downtown Baltimore. In the foreground is the mast from the tall ship "Pride of Baltimore". It capsized and sunk in the Caribbean Sea as it was returning to Baltimore. The captain and 3 crew members perished and they are remembered in this memorial.
The city has a catchy nickname - B more
The Visionary Art Museum from atop Federal Hill. Note the birds nest on the side and gold hand protruding from the back wall.
Another wall of the Art museum. The words light up at night.
The Baltimore Orioles played 4 games at home while we were in town. Sunday would have been our day to go, but it poured rain all day. From the boat we could see the fireworks after the Friday night game.
Babe Ruth was born in Baltimore
Follow the baseballs in the sidewalk from Camden Yards to the house Babe was born in, which is now a museum.
At one of the entrances to the ballpark are the numbers worn by past Oriole players. I recognized them all, including Jim Palmer, Eddie Murray and Earl Weaver. But this one is probably the most famous.
On land you see street sweepers. This is the first time we've seen a garbage skimmer on the water. It would cover the Inner Harbor every day, picking up debris. And there was a lot of it!
Another first at this marina - we've seen dockhands ride golf carts, ride bikes or plain run to slips that are a distance away from the office when needing to catch the lines of a boat that is docking. At Inner Harbor Marina, the dock master got around on a Segway!
"Thurgood's Justice" - the name of this water taxi honors Thurgood Marshall, who was born in Baltimore. He was the first African-American Supreme Court Justice.
Greg and Karen flew home on Saturday. Jim Dawson (far left), came aboard True North on Sunday to help Mike and I as we continue up the east coast into the Hudson River. Jim and his wife Terri were on the boat Lucky Ducks that we traveled with in the fall of 2016.
Jim's friends, Dave and Paula, live outside of Washington, D.C. and were kind enough on Monday to come to the marina and take us to lunch in the historic Fells Point district of Baltimore.
Unique and Random Photo of the Day:
I did, and it was a frozen custard!
A small dish was a whopping $6.10, which seemed like a lot because I was already pretty happy when I went there!
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