Good Morning (Afternoon), Baltimore

I woke up at 7:15 a.m. to get ready and finish getting my stuff together before Katy and I met up to get on the subway. The subway was taking forever to come because it was a Saturday and less trains run on the weekends, and Katy decided we were going to be cutting it too close so we left the subway and caught a cab to where the bus was supposed to pick us up near Penn Station. We waited…and waited…and waited, but the bus never came. After a call to Sherry, the Bolt Bus customer service agent, Katy figured out that they were replacing a part on our bus and it was going to be at least a half hour late. That time estimate proved to be false because we waited for almost two hours for our bus while we watched three DC-bound buses come and go. Katy, determined to get a full refund (she is really into getting things for free if they are not up to her standards), called Sherry again to give her some attitude and claimed she was never going to ride the Bolt Bus again. I remained calm for most of the wait, probably because I am certainly not a morning person, but I was starting to get really annoyed and irritated near the end and was telling other passengers to shut up so we could hear what was going on and get things sorted out. We decided to wait in Sbarro for a little while and I got coffee, which was a very poor decision because, well, it was Sbarro and the combination of being overly tired and highly caffeinated put me in a really weird mood.

Our bus finally arrived and I pushed my way to the front of the crowd to ensure we got good seats near the front. On the bus I couldn’t read because I was too tired, but I couldn’t sleep because I was too caffeinated, so I ended up just listening to music and playing with my phone for most of the trip. These three plus hour-long trips have made me realize how much I love my iPhone and how amazing it truly is. Katy decided to relive the Glee concert and was rocking out (yes, dancing and singing) to probably every single Glee song on her iPod.

When we finally arrived in Baltimore, Katy’s mom was waiting for us. Katy planned on having me film her dad’s reaction to her Father’s Day surprise, but it turned out Scott was not overly surprised. Katy blamed her little brother, Will, for spilling the surprise, but it ended up that Scott saw a tweet Katy had written earlier that morning about the Bolt Bus because he follows her on Twitter. This is actually hilarious because Katy accosted Katie for mentioning her in a tweet about Baltimore earlier this week for fear her dad would read it and figure out the surprise. We didn’t have to pick Katie (I know everyone in my generation is named Katie) up from the train station until later, so we decided to go out to the barn where Katy used to ride horses to see April, the horse she used to ride. Okay, I had not been around horses for a really long time and they were way bigger than I remembered, so I was a little freaked out when they started charging at us when we opened the gate to the field where they were. Even though I kept a safe distance away, I managed to snap a few pictures of Katy in her natural habitat with one of her favorite animals. Horses really are beautiful, they are so graceful for how strong and powerful they are. I was actually surprised that the barn smelled… good? I think it was the fresh hay or something a few of the girls were putting out, but whatever it was it smelled fresh and very natural.

Next we drove through the countryside just outside of Baltimore and it was absolutely beautiful to see the rolling, green hills and weave in and out of thick forest. Some of the farmhouses were amazing as well, the outside was gray stone that gave the building a rustic, yet classic look that I loved. We stopped for a bite to eat before going to pick up Katie and Sarah at a restaurant that served American and Indian food. Katy said every time she goes into that restaurant they are serving something different, and it was just a hilariously odd place. We stopped at the mall really quickly to see if the Mac store could fix Katy’s phone, which randomly wouldn’t turn on or take a charge, but we had to make an appointment which we didn’t have time for. We picked up Sarah where she was working for the Mayor’s Conference and she instantly fixed Katy’s phone, which we had been fiddling with since it stopped working. She clearly has magical, technological powers.

We picked up Katie at the train station before heading back to Katy’s house for dinner. Katy’s mom is an amazing chef and made a wonderful spread of barbeque chicken, corn on the cob, shrimp and salad, and we also had awesome crabs from a crab house. It had been awhile since I had broken down a crab, and it reminded me so much of summers on Whidbey Island crabbing and fishing. I also got to try a Skinnygirl Margarita from Bethenny’s premade mix and it was delicious, despite what I have heard to the contrary. It was not too strong or overly sweet, it was pretty perfect actually. Katy had a Coronita (a little, baby bottle of Corona), which was so cute. Katy’s mom also made an amazing cookie cake with mocha cream icing, and even though I was so full from dinner I made room for dessert because it was so good. Katie also brought cupcakes from DC from this placed called Baked and Wired (I love that name), so we all had little samples of those too. After dinner we decided to watch “Country Strong,” which I had never seen before and I thought it was pretty good. The guy in it is super sexy, and had a great voice for not really being a singer. I was starting to fall asleep near the end of the movie, and so after it was over we crawled into bed. Actually, I crawled onto an air mattress because I was too slow to call the bed, but at that point I really didn’t care I was so tired. Sarah and Katie’s political talk lulled me right to sleep.

Katy and April

Baltimore: The Greatest City in America