Day 51

Vacation Day 9: Saturday in Baltimore is very relaxing. The drive up the Washington/Baltimore Parkway is fluid. Again, posted speed limit is 55 but driven speed is 70+. Cass just finished driver's ed, so justifying the blatant excessiveness is difficult. She is also happy to be done with the Smithsonians. Her quote of the week was, "I'd like museums if we didn't have to walk around and look at so much stuff." Really.

But back to Baltimore. After 10 minutes of searching for a parking spot I retraced my steps to a place I saw on the way into downtown. Had to walk a block and it was a 4 hour parking meter, but it was cheap.

First order of business was lunch since by now it was 1 pm. In the Gallery at Inner Harbor we settled on Phillips Seafood Diner. Delicious.

Then we hit the Best of Baltimore. The girls needed their Charm City Cakes shirts (based on "Ace of Cakes", more to come on that).

Next it was over to the Game Stop. Carson used some of his mowing money to buy the new Toy Story 3 Wii game. A must have for every summer vacation.

Cass picked cheesecake for dessert, so we conveniently went to the Cheesecake Factory for one slice of Fresh Strawberry Cheesecake. Wow. Highly recommend.

Walked around the pier looking at boats, people and birds. Then headed just north of downtown to the Charm City Cakes shop. No tours, but we took a picture to show we were really there.

Back to DC for supper at a two-story McDonald's and evening driving tour of the memorials. Got to see Thomas Jefferson and Iwo Jima.

Today is Sunday. Slept in. In a little while we will head to Baltimore and then on to Philly. That means it is pack up day. It's amazing how much stuff ends up all over the room when you have four people spending 6 nights in one spot. So we throw it all in the suitcase only to know we will be pulling it all out tonight.