Monday, October 2nd, 2023.
With only about 3 hours of sleep under my belt, I made a quick coffee, jumped in the shower, got dressed and gathered my luggage which consisted all of a pocket-sized blood sugar monitor case emptied out to accommodate my little travel wallet, my little four compartment travel pill case, my phone charger, and a travel size tube of sunscreen. In my other pocket I carried my phone. That's it. When I say I travel light, I mean it. Does this mean I have to wear the same clothes everyday? Yeah. I do that at home anyway so what the hell. And what about deodorant and toothpaste? I showered well each day and rinsed my mouth out really well. Traveling super light does have some detractions. I guess it helps to travel solo as well under these conditions since no one needed to get close enough to really smell me LOL.
I jumped into Hulk at 3:30 a.m., drove to Orlando taking 417, a very expensive toll road. I chose the quicker "pay by license plate" lane. I guess I'll see soon enough in the mail how much that will cost me. When I got to the airport, I chose to park in my usual Terminal C garage but I failed to check on updated pricing. I thought it would be about 10 to $15 a day as it used to be, but when I returned at the end of my 2-day trip I was charged a whopping $72! I guess now that the Bright Line Station and other airline options are active here, Terminal C isn't much of a deal anymore.
My flight was delayed an hour which meant I had to hop on my phone and change my Amtrak ticket to Washington DC from the airport Amtrak station from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. which cost me an extra five bucks. Ugh! Let the nickel and diming begin.
I chose to fly into Baltimore Washington International Airport, and stay at an airport area hotel since geographically Baltimore is pretty much right between Washington and Philadelphia and connected by a very convenient Amtrak line for easy access ($252.36 air and hotel through Expedia).
The flight was quick and uneventful. Crammed and jam-packed with people? Of course. It was Frontier after all. My crap shoot seat (chose not to pay to select one when booking) turned out to be a window seat, yay, and a little old lady sat in the middle seat so she didn't get too bothered by my body slightly overflowing the boundaries of my seat into hers. At least at first. At one point in mid-flight I had to get up to use the restroom and you would have thought I was asking her to get off the fucking plane or something. She literally said to me as I asked her to let me by, "Right now?" like as if she's saying "Why can't you wait until we land?" Turns out I'd have to wait to pee anyway because the restroom was literally about 3 ft. by 1 ft., I shit you not.
We landed around about 11:00 a.m. and the airport is actually kind of small so it was easy to navigate to the shuttle bus stop for the nearby railroad station. A short 30 minute train ride later, I was back at good old Union Station in Washington.
Ozempic really came through for me on this trip since with such a tight packed itinerary it helps to not have to stop to eat much. As I made my way up from the train tracks to the main hall, I eyeballed the location of a Uno's concession that I had mapped out when I plan this trip. No need to stop for lunch there, I planned to hit it up for dinner before leaving to go back to Baltimore Airport and my hotel. I was good to go for now, fueled by nothing more than the two cups of coffee from home, a Coke Zero and a 5-Hour Energy from Love's ($9.94) I drank on my drive to Orlando, a Diet Coke at OIA ($3.25) and a Naked Green Machine smoothie ($6) I grabbed at the BWI Amtrak station.
Took the escalators to below the station and after figuring out the confusing pay system, hopped on a subway taking me to the Smithsonian station, pretty close to the museum I wanted to go to. Of all the Smithsonian museums I visited in the two other trips (including this 2008 visit) here over the years, I somehow skipped one of the most popular, the National Museum of American History. Well today would be the day I finally get here. And, this would have been impacted by the recent threat of a government shutdown that I mentioned in my prior post, so now you know why I was so concerned. Thankfully, that shut down was averted, and the museum was happily open.
The place is huge and has many exhibit halls, and though I certainly was feeling it, I think I made my way through most of them. Strolling through a museum as vast as this, and wandering through hall after hall, without having to stop frequently to sit down and rest, is my dream of a lighter me. I was going to take photos of interesting exhibits but frankly there are just so many and you can find pictures online of almost everything here, so I put my phone away and just enjoyed the sights and sounds in real time.
This is the museum that contains the famous reconstructed Julia Child's kitchen, the gowns of the first ladies, pop-culture icons like Dorothy's ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz and Archie and Edith's chairs from All in the Family to name a few. Of course this is a national museum updated continually and in tune with modern times, and as such didn't shy away from the atrocities in American history like Native American genocide and exclusion as well as, of course, our nation's role in slavery, but the overall message of many of the exhibits was also one of proud American exceptionalism and our dominant global influence through power, commerce and pop-culture.
Had my body been more receptive I could have popped on over to the National Museum of Natural History next door but I had been there a couple of times now and I would have pushed it a little too much. I had to think about conserving my energy and muscles for tomorrow as well. I was making my way back towards the subway entrance when by chance I noticed what looked like a downtown connector bus. Checked it out on my phone and sure enough the DC Circulator Bus takes passengers on a circular trip from Union Station west along the Mall wrapping around the Lincoln Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial and going back by way of the other side of the Mall to Union Station. Had I known about this bus of course I would have taken it instead of the subway. The bus fare was only $1 while the subway was $2 for each trip with a $2 fee for the card. Turns out the bus cost actually nothing for me since the driver said the card reader was broken.
I shot this video capturing good views of the Washington Monument and Smithsonian museums including the Smithsonian Castle as well as a good shot of the Capitol. Also snapped the following photo of an under construction Lincoln Memorial site while taking this bus around the Mall back to Union Station.
At Uno's, I sat at the bar and enjoyed a small late lunch/early dinner of a fried ravioli appetizer and a pint of Goose Island IPA ($25.99). On the TV behind the bar the news was talking about a local commuter rail accident. Yikes, not the kind of news you want to hear about at a railroad station.
Rode my train back to BWI, called my hotel for a complimentary shuttle pickup, checked in and made my way up to my room, showered and freshened up a bit, and walked to the Ruby Tuesday's right next door. Yes of course the proximity of this place to the hotel was a deciding factor in choosing this Hyatt Place to book.
Enjoyed a coconut shrimp appetizer and three 20 oz. glasses of their local craft brewery's Loose Cannon IPA ($47.37). The bartender was an outspoken firecracker Black girl who had me grinning with appreciation for the way she sass-talked with her customers including one cringy flirtatious drunk guy.
By 9:00 I was fully exhausted and returned to my room, stripped down, got into my comfy bed, watched a bit of HBO (I, Tonya) and slept until 3:30 am.
Tuesday, October 3, 2023
Despite the fact that I was still quite tired and really wanted more sleep for my muscles to recover from yesterday's walking, insomnia woke me up too early so I just had to deal with it.
Partook of the hotel's free hot breakfast, having scrambled eggs, turkey sausage and hash browns. Not really that great but, eh, it was free. Coffee was okay though and it was definitely needed.
Hopped on the Mercedes Sprinter van free shuttle the hotel provided got dropped off at the train station and boarded for my 2 hour ride to Philadelphia.
Check out this art deco masterpiece 30th Street Railroad Station in downtown Philadelphia.
I had known ahead of time when planning this trip that the nearby subway station entrance was being reconstructed and planned to use a secondary subway entrance that I found using Google Maps, but when I walked there, it too was closed, so now, not wanting to spend the coin on a cab, I shrugged and resigned my fate to having to walk further down Market Street towards the city center in order to descend to the subway via another entrance. I went down the stairs to what was labeled as the trolley. The signage looked different from the Blue Line Subway that I had seen using Street View tried it anyway ($2). Turns out I was right, it is a different line. Had to get out and go up to the subway line that I wanted to use which was one level above this. Instead, since the subway in Philadelphia was really sketchy looking, and witnessing the doped up denizens and humongous rats on the YouTube videos of Kensington, just a couple miles down the line, I chose to just keep climbing and quickly ascended back to street level.
Coincidentally this brought me a block away from City Hall which I had debated visiting when planning this trip. I made my way to the City Hall Visitor Center, bought my ticket ($15) and "enjoyed" a guided tour rising up in a creaky 19th century elevator about 50 floors up in the William Penn statue topped iconic tower. I say "enjoyed" because I hadn't realized how slightly frightening this would be for someone like me with acrophobia. But I muscled through the anxiety and got these awesome shots of the city and the tower itself.
I rechecked the distance on Google Maps and figured I'd at least try to walk to Independence Hall a little more than half a dozen blocks away. Back when I did my Grand Northeast Tour, I wouldn't have batted an eye. Just strolled down there without a single stop. But now I had to stop at nearly every bus stop bench to sit and rest for a couple of minutes each time.
It might have taken me close to an hour, but I finally got to the Independence Visitor Center and after a quick bathroom break moseyed on down to the Liberty Bell taking a few shots of the nearby Independence Hall as well.
My slow walking journey continued as I made my way around to the other side of Independence Hall and on to the Museum of the American Revolution a few blocks further east. Normally this Museum would have cost $24 but it's free for people, like me, who are on food stamps. While I was getting my ticket, hilariously, there was a British lady who was trying to explain to the museum employee why she didn't want to use her credit card as she would have to endure an added fee. The employee thought the lady was worried that the museum would charge an extra fee for using a credit card and the British lady became snippy with her saying "Oh I'm afraid you just don't understand!" in a very haughty and dismissive tone. I so much wanted to turn to this lady and remind her that the very museum she is standing in is an homage to the war that Americans fought against her just-as-snooty British ancestors.
The museum was very pretty and arranged quite neatly with interactive audio and visual exhibits throughout and more artifacts than you can shake a stick at but I'm quite relieved that I got in for free since I don't think it would be quite worth $24. Again there are plenty of pictures online that show the exhibits here so I refrained from picture taking.
After an hour and a half or so here again perusing the exhibits interspersed with many rest breaks, I decided to Uber my way back to the train station.
Now around dinner time and I hadn't eaten since the small breakfast at the hotel yet it didn't seem like I saw any nice restaurant concessions here so I chose Jersey Mike's and had a small Italian sub ($14.50). What...no Philly cheese steak? Well, number one, would going all the way to Philadelphia and having a Philly cheese steak from a fast food chain like Jersey Mike's be authentic? And number two, if I had to choose between Italian sub and a cheese steak, Italian sub would win every time.
Back at my Baltimore area hotel a couple hours later, I again walked over to Ruby Tuesday's and had three more Loose Cannon IPAs ($28.95). Bartender tonight not nearly as interesting, a middle-aged white dude who reminded me of Mike from Ridge Area Arc.
No HBO movie tonight, my body was totally aching and I was down for the count. Slept from about 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. Much better.
Another free breakfast and free shuttle ride, this time to the airport, and flew uneventfully back home to Florida.