Baltimore and D.C. with Jennifer

Robert and I are back from a very fun, rejuvenating, loud and happy trip to D.C. and Baltimore.

The first thing we did was smack some crab around at L.P. Steamers in Baltimore.  A friend of Robert's gave him this amazing recommendation and told him to drink some Yuengling with it.  This turned out to be a delightful combination.  

Eating crab and drinking some foam makes for a cozy lunch.

Later we met up with Jennifer, Robert's lively, expressive and amiable sister.  We spent a really loud and relaxing weekend with her climbing boulders, exploring telescopes and aircraft, whispering to orchids and eating some of the most memorable food of my life.  

Our first adventure was at Great Falls, where we absorbed the crisp, rainy splendor of a very bumpy path.  There were plenty wildflowers strutting their stuff: spiderwort, lily of the valley, phlox and these purple daisy fleabane:

Jennifer took this sweeping panoramic shot. Pretty much the entire 4 mile hiking experience was this lovely. 

Robert and Jennifer did their fair share of goofing around: 

This may just be my favorite photo of the whole trip (photo taken by Jennifer):

Each time we came to falling water I thought this is it! But each time was only a tiny glimpse of the grand finale (photo taken by Jennifer)

And we saw plenty of wildlife, including deer, a garter snake, turtles, a heron and this exceptional millipede (hand bravely provided by Jennifer):

The next day we went to the ever-so-eye-opening and somber Newseum (photo taken by Jennifer)

and the U.S. Botanic Gardens, where Robert had what looks like a great conversation with some Orchid Friends. (photo taken by Jennifer)

I quickly found my own flower friends, but I did not whisper sweet nothings to them:

We ate some incredible food: sprinkled pop tarts from Teds Bulletin, luscious frozen margaritas filled with dainty lime chunks from Fish Taco, a rockin', crunchy grilled cheese sandwich from Busboys and Poets, tangy blood orange sorbet from Dolci Gelati, both savory and sweet pies at Dangerously Delicious Pies, and heirloom tomato samples at different farmer's markets.

This was a very interesting turkey thing I ate at Miss Shirley's, and while it was tasty what's really important about this picture is my octopus shirt (it glows in the dark), which I scored at the National Aquarium. I don't have any great photos from the aquarium simply because I was so overwhelmed by its awesomeness. We caught a few glimpses of the one-finned turtle, Calypso, gently touched jellyfish and were completely mesmerized by a dolphin show.

Besides my shirt I found several goodies on this trip including a handful of books and a few new fabrics and threads.

Before we took off we visited the Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center, which was fascinating.  A smart scientist lady walked us through what will happen once the James Webb Space Telescope is launched.  As she talked about each process they've designed to slow it down I was reminded of Russian nesting dolls; the final doll being a data-collecting robot of course.  

Naturally Robert did a lot of zipping around and pretending. 

The plane ride back was fantastic.  I had the elbow room to do some serious embroidery.  And snacking.  And reading.

Life is good if the middle seat looks like this: