Day 1...

Day 1 got off to a pretty eventful start. Our flight from Albuquerque to Atlanta left at 6:15am, and I think everyone and their mother was on the flight. I somehow lucked out with my carry on and grabbed the last overhead spot on the plane....which left Foss and Matt without. They had to check their bags in and were promised that the bags would make it to Baltimore before we landed. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time in the Atlanta airport to stop for chicken and waffles (damn...I was looking forward to that). We finally landed in Baltimore around 1:30 or so, and Foss and Matt's bags were nowhere to be found. After much inquiry and trying to find someone who knew what the hell was going on, we discovered that the bags were actually placed on a flight departing from Albuquerque an hour after ours left (still trying to figure out how that happens....why don't you just check the bag on the same damn flight!). The bags finally arrived later that afternoon (all is well, although I must strongly recommend to never fly Delta again!)

Anyways...after all that, Parker picked us up from the airport, and we went to grab a bite at a really good place called G & M. We all had awesome crab cakes (delicious)! After lunch, we headed to Parker's place in Ellicott City, MD. It's only about 10 minutes from the BWI airport and about 15 - 20 minutes outside of Baltimore.

Parker lives in an awesome neighborhood! It's beautiful out here, trees EVERYWHERE!! Parker's roommate is a really nice guy. His name is Brian and he works with Parker. Brian's boss for the longest time was Tristen, Julie's friend from St. Pius (small world).

We ate dinner at this awesome pub in Ellicott City called Pub Dog. The menu had a front side and a back side....the front side was all beer brewed by Pub Dog and the back side was nothing but pizza (my kind of menu!!). The beer's were awesome!! I had a blueberry and raspberry beer....I know it sounds weird, but it was delicious!! After dinner we brought all the troops together and headed to downtown Baltimore. Parker and Brian brought their friend Diana and we met up with our friend Michelle. We went to this district in downtown B-more called Federal Hill. It's a really cool little district that reminds me of parts of New York (mainly like little Italy with tight streets, a lot of brick buildings, and a lot going on). We finally all met up at a little waterhole called Mother's. We spent the rest of the night hanging out and living it up there! All-in-all, a pretty eventful first day.

Tentative Agenda for the remainder of the Baltimore trip:
Today - Inner Harbor in Baltimore
Tonight - We're planning on going to Washington, D.C., getting a hotel for the night, and hitting up some bars in the D.C. area. According to Parker, it takes FOREVER to get back to Maryland on weekend nights, so we decided a hotel wouldn't be a bad idea.
Sunday - Wake up and go see some sites in D.C. The baseball game is at 1:35 pm on Sunday. The Washington Nationals vs. Milwaukee Brewers.

Having a blast so far!

Talk to you all tomorrow,

Jer