Travels With Stu

I’m pretty sure I only spent a day in Baltimore because even though there are a handful of things to see in the city, one can easily walk it’s entirety, or close to its entirety in a day if they enjoy walking as much as I do.

I started my day by heading down to the Inner Harbor where I walked along the boardwalk admiring its beauty and waiting until the restaurants would open, but nothing opened until at least 11AM which gave me a few hours until I could eat. I left the Inner Harbor and made my way back towards my hostel and into Mt. Vernon - no, not the Mt. Vernon nearby Kenyon…There was a large column with a statue of Washington atop it, and surrounding the area were shops and museums…none of which I entered. After strolling along the streets for a little while I made my way back to the Inner Harbor, where I ate at a CPK, purchased a shirt/pin from the Hard Rock Cafe, and continuing my walk beyond the Inner Harbor and into this new section of the city where they apparently had a copy of the original flag or the national anthem (sorry I dont have my LP book on me) but I lost interest in this because it seemed too far away so I headed back towards the Inner Harbor and decided I’d make my way to Fort McHenry National Monument. I saw that there was a park on the way to the Fort so I thought I’d check out the park for a little before heading to the Fort.

I had no idea it would take me 3 and a half hours to get from downtown Baltimore to Fort McHenry, but after an hour or so of walking I found the park, and then after another couple of hours I finally got to the damn fort. I was so glad to see it after walking for a long time, that I slowly walked along its perimeter before deciding to take a closer look at the fort. The Fort itself wasn’t anything special, and I didn’t pay for the admission price, but after stopping by the visitor building for 20 minutes of rest I started walking back towards downtown Baltimore.

I was planning on meeting up with a Kenyon friend and recent college grad who had just moved to Baltimore and was working in finance, but I didn’t know where to meet him, other than at my hostel, so I started the long walk back towards downtown. About 25 minutes into the walk I got a call from Bob and he asked me where I was. I found a street intersection and told him my location and there was a few second pause before…”You’re where?”

“Stu, that’s like five minutes away from my place. Don’t go anywhere, actually, how about you meet me at this intersection,” the phone call continued. Apparently I had done something that was so ridiculous my friend and banking analyst couldn’t understand how I got to where I was by foot. I ended up heading back towards the Fort, but thankfully not all the way back to the Fort, and meeting Bob at a corner street. He showed me his apartment which he was sharing with a couple other guys, and I was REALLY impressed with their apartment, especially there furniture. I don’t remember what the other two guys were doing, but it seemed to me that everyone was doing well financially, and I was proud to see that Kenyon grads can live a semi-luxurious life if you were an econ major…haha.

After checking out his apartment, Bob and I headed towards a bar to grab a drink, but before we got to the bar Bob’s car started acting up on him and he had to end up cutting some wire in his car to turn off all the lights, including the turn signals. I had never seen someone go at their car the way in which Bob did. I, personally, would be too nervous to start cutting any wires in my car, but I guess if my car started acting all crazy, and I was instructed by a Toyota person to do that, i guess I’d cut wires. Bob had no fear, and started doing everything he could with his father’s assistance over the phone to make his blinkers turn off…that’s what it was. Unfortunately he ended up turning all of his car lights.

After that scenario we headed towards a bar, where each of us got two half pints of beer/cider. It was fun talking and kicking it back with Bob because I always thought he was a down-to-earth guy, and he was an integral part of my success in my Macroeconomics class as a TA. After a couple beers I asked Bob if he could drop me off nearby downtown, and he did as we wished each other farewell.

I was alone again…but I was going back to the hostel to pick up my car. I could’ve gone to Philadelphia to meet up with my close friend Dan who was living there, but with a lot of pressure from Suz for me to return early for her trip, I thought it’d be best for both our sakes if I returned to NY and gave myself a full day to prepare for her arrival into NY. I drove back to NY…only a 230 mile drive, and couldn’t believe my road trip was coming to its end. For the past five weeks I had driven from NY to Chicago, all the way down to New Orleans, across to Florida and then back up again to NY, and had some of the most wonderful as well as awkward moments in my life. It seemed weird heading back to NY, but I was also extremely excited because Suz was due to arrive in less than 2 days. I hadn’t seen her in close to 3 weeks, and even though my road trip had come to an end I still had a lot to look forward to in NY. My mom had arrived home from her month long Carribean island hop excursion, my brother and sister were working at the autistic camp, and they’d be home. The only person who wasn’t going to be there was Rocie because she was on vacation, but I was excited to see everyone when I returned, as I eagerly awaited Suz’s arrival.

The drive from Rockville, MD (where I was staying) to Baltimore was only 50 miles, actually a little less, and it took me no more than an hour to get to the city, however I couldn’t find my hostel so it ended up taking about 2 hours until I found the place I was staying. I was planning on staying at the HI Hostel in Baltimore, which was kind of exciting in some ways, but in other ways not so exciting. The deal with the hostels I had stayed at during the trip was basically this….and this style of living/traveling doesn’t sound that appealing to many people for one reason or another…that’s fair enough.

Since I didn’t (and couldn’t afford) want to stay at hotels because of their high prices, and more importantly, because of the extreme loneliness I’d experience, I stayed at hostels whenever possible. This allowed me to spend my free time with other people close to me in age from all different parts of the world. Staying at the American hostels was almost like staying at a camp. They sometimes had activities for their guests, which I rarely participated in, but most importantly, I was surrounded by people close to me in age, who were interested in similar things I was interested in, and I was surrounded by people from all over the world. When you’re traveling by yourself these are all very important things I took into consideration and I really think the hostels made my trip a lot more enjoyable.

So after checking into the hostel in Baltimore and paying a price I thought was too hefty as well as an additional parking fee for their back lot, I dropped my belongings at my bed which was in a room with a few other beds, all of which had occupants. I made my way back downstairs, inquired about any nearby restaurants, and found a quick bite to eat before heading back to the hostel to take it easy and chat with Suz. I was getting very excited because August 1st was right around the corner and that’s when Suz was coming to visit me in NY. I wanted to try to extend my road trip for as long as possible so I wouldn’t have any dead time in NY and I could time my arrival with her arrival and have her trip to NY be the grand finale to my summer road trip. We chatted for awhile and both of us shared equal excitement about the nearness of August 1, before I headed to bed.

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