The final week of our trip flew by in a haze of of binge drinking, sex and rock and roll. Fine, so that is not entirely true. More factual might be that it flew by in a haze of moderate drinking, national monuments and brownies.
We battled rain and dreary weather to make it to Nashville, only to find that it, too, had succumbed to melancholic gray skies and leaky clouds. We were staying with Janelle Hawkes at her college friend, Amanda's, home just outside of the city, where we were offered a luxury we have not been afforded in nearly three months - separate rooms.
We spent two days in the Music City, enjoying the sights under a blanket of rain while eating freshly baked brownies. Feeling rested, we continued our northeastward trek, stopping in Virginia for one final night of sleep in the car. It was sentimental; tears were shed. We awoke to an exceptionally bright Virginian sun and set off into Shenedoah National Park, leaving the highway to drive on Skyline Drive, which cuts through the heart of the park and is a beautiful drive. After spending a couple weeks in the Deep South, we finally began to see winter's touch on the landscape as we continued northward. The trees that flanked Skyline Drive, normally full of color and life, were barren. With the thick fog that had conveniently emerged, it was like a mist-enshrouded convention for the American Federation of Eerie Trees (AFET).
We were heading to our old housemate, Mike "Buddha" O'Keefe's apartment just outside of Baltimore, where his lives with his girlfriend, Chris. We tiptoed around Washington DC's traffic, arriving at his place just in time to be served a home-cooked meal - it is an uncanny ability of ours, to make it just in time to be fed.
We whiled away the night catching up with an old friend and regressing to our college selves by playing copious amounts of video games. However, when morning reared its ugly head, Buddha had to return to his big-boy job, so we gave our thanks and took our leave, heading into Baltimore. We passed the time doing some computer work until our next hostesses, Alaina and Julia, were done with work. We met them for dinner at Alaina's favorite Mexican joint, No Way Jose, for some food and margaritas. When we had our fill, we walked back to their place, where we melted into the couches, watching some television until we passed out.
We started off strong the next morning, going for a run up to the top of Federal Hill overlooking the Baltimore Harbor, but after getting back and showering, we fell into naps, barely moving until hunger drove us out of the house to find some nourishment. Alaina made me promise not to write about that sluggish afternoon, for fear she would seem a poor hostess, but so it was a good thing we rested up that previous night. We spent the whole morning walking around the city, seeing the sights and meeting the locals. Dan even saved a kitten that was stuck up a tree and was awarded the key to the city by the mayor himself! It was such a productive afternoon that we decided to get some food.
We grabbed some dinner at Mother's, a place that surreptitiously charged patrons for things like tomatoes and sides of buffalo sauce (it was egregious), and one once filled, we met up with Julia, now out of work, for a 25 cent Miller Lite special at a nearby bar. The deal lasts from 5 until 7, and Julia like to use that finite amount of time to turn it into a challenge to see how many beers she can drink in that time frame - she managed 7 today. It was quite impressive, and quite necessary, for we were going to watch the Philadelphia Eagles' game right after, and seeing as the three of them are Eagles' fans, drinking helps them cope with the disappointing season.
We stayed out until about halftime before their disappointment in the game drove us home. We braved the bitter cold to walk home, though it fought back by giving me a cold, which I swear I did not once complain about while staying while in Baltimore!
Both Alaina and Julia had off the next day, so we decided to take the train into Washington DC to see the sights. We wandered through the city on what seemed to be an endless grid of uphill streets, seeing the Supreme Court, Congress, the Botanical Gardens, the National Mall and its surrounding sea of museums, the White House, the Lincoln Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial from a distance. We also saw the Christmas tree set up across from the White House, but much to the chagrin of Julia, it was a mangled, tumorous tree that left her quite disappointed. We also saw the Washington Monument, complete with the reflection pool, though, to be fair, it was less of a reflection pool at that point and more of a pile of dirt under construction. Overall, we probably walked around 5 miles, but making it all worth it was a stop at Chipotle, the first one Dan had ever been to, over a year ago.
We made the trip back to Baltimore, where Alaina was sweet enough to cook us an 11 pound ham for dinner. Her generosity knew no bounds, and try as we might, we barely put a dent in that enormous beast. Afterwards, I took more cold medicine and quickly lost consciousness for nearly 13 hours, but Dan and Alaina went out for a night on the town with "Pundy" James Punderson and his girlfriend, Michelle, another Baltimore resident. I heard good things about the night from Alaina the next morning; Dan was a little foggy on the details of events but seemed to have a good time, nonetheless.
It was our last morning in Baltimore, and as luck would have it, there was a special going on at the Baltimore Harbor allowing entry to all of its attractions for one dollar apiece, so we decided to go see the aquarium. So did half the population of Baltimore, apparently, because, upon arriving, we were greeted with a line the size of Rhode Island wrapping around the building and looping through the city streets halfway back to New Jersey. We settled on touring the seemingly less popular Torst submarine, which has the United States Naval record for most dives. We walked through the cramped quarters, wondering how they fit 81 people within its walls. We were inside for less than 15 minutes, and I was already beginning to feel the onset of claustrophobia; it's hard to imagine people being stuck inside for weeks at a time.
When we resurfaced, we began to feel the pangs of hunger, so we met Pundy and Michelle for brunch, before accepting that it was indeed time to move on. Down to our last day, we found ourselves grasping at the frays of a trip now nearly unraveled. We bid farewell to Alaina and Julia, setting off on the road north to York, Pennsylvania to visit Dan's family.
We picked up his Grandma Wilma from her home and met Margo, Keith and Matt, his aunt, uncle and cousin, respectively, for dinner at a local pizza place. Margo and Keith recently took a little cross-country trip of their own so we traded stories and had a pleasant evening reminiscing on old family stories. The next morning, we enjoyed a nice breakfast with the same cast of people plus Dan's other cousin Kelly and her family, before finally hitting the road to reenter the Garden State.
This post has been brought to you by leftover ham, Baltimore rats and extra-strength cold medicine.
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