Last weekend I was lucky/excited to host my first visiting relative since moving to Baltimore. One of my aunts from Austin, TX flew up to visit and spend the weekend. I believe her original intention was to cook mountains of food for me to freeze and rely on to get through exams. However, when she realized we have one average sized refrigerator, and three girls that all like to eat, the cooking was limited to whatever she could make on Friday while I was at work (more likely she had to stop when she ran out of room)! But, I am eternally grateful for the delicious lasagna, king ranch casserole, and minestrone soup that now fills my freezer 🙂
So, since there really was no more room for her to continue this cooking spree all weekend, we decided to do some exploring! I mentioned to her that I typically go down to DC on Saturdays to watch the Aggie football game with my alumni club at a bar downtown. I was a little hesitant to drag my non-football-watching aunt along to a rowdy party of my 80 closest friends and buckets of Shiner Bock beer, but she seemed game so off we went! It was an early game, and my Aggies cleaned house with an easy win over Arkansas, so we had some time left in the day to check out DC. As embarrassing as it is to admit, I have been down there almost every weekend and had still yet to see the White House or any more than a distant glimpse of the Washington Monument! So, what better excuse than a relative to bust out the camera and act like a total tourist?!
Naturally we started off with a little trip to the White House to check out how the “royalty” of America spends their alone time. Although, after seeing the waves and waves of people moseying around and focusing their cameras on the house, I can’t imagine how they ever get any privacy!
After posing for the picture, oohing and aweing a little bit, we turned around and walked across the street to the Washington Monument. I must say that everything is super close together, and I was thankful for that because my choice of boots that day was less than brilliant…
Anyways, this was probably my favorite. The tall tower stretches into the sky and is surrounded by American flags. Really gives you a sense of pride.
Again, after photo posing, retakes, and asking strange bystanders to take one for us, we continued on with our cultural tour of the nation’s capital. Immediately opposite the monument is the reflection pool and Lincoln Memorial, as well as the Civil War Memorial.
At this point I started to get the hint that my aunt was tired of me dragging her all over the city, and was ready to sit in the car and drive back! So we ventured back to my incredibly lucky prime parking spot on the road in front of the monument and began the little trek back to Baltimore. Naturally that evening we had some delicious home made food and crashed for the night with plans to go to the farmers market in the morning!
I must say the farmers market is one of my favorite things about Baltimore, and it’s not just because I can get this AWESOME breakfast burrito…in fact, there should be a disclaimer on the orange sauce (WARNING: will make your eyes water and clear your sinuses, but totally worth the pain!)
So, after I somehow managed to survive the habanero sauce, with the cheers of the cooks and the laughing of my aunt, we did a little shopping in the market, bought a festive fall wreath for my front door, and went down to the inner harbor for a little walk around. I did also manage to drag her to my personal favorite area of Fells Point before heading to the airport. The cobblestone streets and cute shops overlooking the water make for the best little neighborhood in Baltimore in my opinion! In fact, if you’re not totally swamped with school work this weekend I recommend checking out the Fells Point Fall Festival, sounds like a great time!
