July 3

I am officially a week behind on my posts. WHOOPs.
July 3rd, we began the day by touring John Hopkins campus. Marie and I got to see John's lab and a few other buildings. We wandered around a place called Hamden, which is very similar to Hawthorne in Portland. Lots of little local shops that feature a variety of things. We ate lunch at a little Asian restaurant then headed downtown. We stopped at Camden Yards, the baseball stadium where the Baltimore Orioles play. I used to be a HUGE oriole fan when Roberto Alomar, the greatest player ever, played for them. I did not see into the stadium much, but Marie and I walked around the whole outside, as I recalled tales of Jeter's fake homerun that a fan caught, playing in the yard pretending to be the entire lineup of the Orioles, as well as tidbits about Frank & Brooks Robinson and Cal Ripken.
We then walked down to Inner Harbor and found a visitors center. We escaped from the heat there and found, what I consider, the best water fountain in the East. It was cold, and with a steady, strong stream. We wandered up Federal Hill and looked at the city scape, then walked down along the water looking for a cold drink. We also frequented back to the great fountain in the Visitor's center. Around 5pm, we walked back toward Camden Yard and caught the train back to DC.
My sister in Law, Kirsten, picked us up in DC and drove us to her place. When we got there, Daimon, my brother, and she had planned to see a free concert in a park near their house. We went with a picnic of hummus and pita bread and saw two bands play. The park filled with fireflies as the sunset and the music was ok. We then decided to do a tour of the monuments at night. Daimon says there is no better way. We drove to the Jefferson Memorial, then to FDR. The FDR is my favorite, but Daimon tends to believe that it is not monumental. We then went to the World War II memorial which was not around when I came in high school. It is a fountain surrounded by 50 columns each with the name of a US state. It was a pretty impressive monument. We then walked to the Korean War Monument, which at night, has a very somber, and eerie feel to it. We then walked to the Lincoln and through the Vietnam memorial.
We all loaded up into the car, and then we met with one of Daimon and Kirsten's friends who works for PBS and the Newshour with Jim Lehr. We had some drinks, closed down a few bars and headed home.