Baltimore Road Trip, part 1

In deciding where to go we needed to find a place that would make both kids happy.

And we did not want to travel too far

But far enough to shake NY off our skin for awhile.

Baltimore was the best compromise.

It had a place for our King and Princess.

This "part one" is our first day .

sunsetting as we left NY behind

This Radisson Plaza Lord Baltimore Hotel had an old time feel
with great food and sweet people
but best of all... a Starbucks!

When we got there we were the only family there in a twenty floor hotel
It was like a scene out of The Shinning
It was nice having the place to ourselves, but still creepy.

The princess made herself at home right away

looking through the hotel book and trying out all of the toiletries

room 1821

The king felt like VIP in the big place

Our first stop after breakfast was The National Aquarium

It was a spectacular collection!

As we entered we realized this was no ordinary aquarium 

The attention to detail, the unique architecture that made it easy to learn and see everything

It was immaculate and colorful.

king sneaking

These sharks we close enough to touch

It was a joy to take pictures here

But the best was seeing the kids faces at the sight of it all.

The following were my personal favorites

Next we hit the Dolphin show!

The dolphin tricks were amazing,

but their main focus was on educating the audience 

about them and the importance about taking care of our planet.

It was very moving.

we took a risk sitting in the splash zone and had fun getting soaked

The princess wanted to go into the pool the whole time 

and swim with the dolphins

Till this day she still says how sad it was she did not get to touch one.

The truth is that we had no idea if we would make this trip until the last minute.

The princess had a bad cough and runny nose.

The king had a stomach pain and sore throat.

I was very ill with fever and all the above and getting worse.

Thanks to our captain that kept us all happy and medicated.

We sucked it up and had a few difficult nights in a strange place.

We suffered together as a family and got better together.

Made the best of it and had a great time.

inner harbor

swollen eyes and nose and tissue in hand...bring it!