I'm back!!!

I noticed that my last post was from several months ago and decided to stop being such a slacker and start blogging again! My next series of blog posts will be focused on traveling, one of my number one passions in life. I have 7 trips lined up in a 2 month time frame, so I figured there is no better time than now to blog about traveling!

My latest travel adventures were trips to Baltimore, Mt. Vernon, and Philadelphia. I went out to Baltimore for the 48th annual Society of Toxicology national meeting. I had to give a talk the day after St. Patty's day (BOOOOO), but I survived and managed not to have a heart attack prior to giving my talk, which is always my fear.

In between attending the meeting I did manage to do some sightseeing as well. The first day in town I hit the National Aquarium. The highlight of this visit was the dolphin show, since dolphins have always been my favorite animal - I am completely fascinated by them. The show was very kid focused, but it was fun to watch the dolphins do their tricks nevertheless.

I was also able to confront my arch nemesis, the sting ray. I am so glad these were not the rays I encountered during my infamous stinging in La Jolla - although the picture may not do them justice, they were huge and the one that my friend Margaret nicknamed the Dark Lord had a stinger that was about 4 feet long!

The other major stop on my Baltimore sightseeing tour was the Star Spangled Banner Flag House (not to be confused with the Betsy Ross Flag House in Philadelphia where the nation's first flag was sewn - more on that later). It was kind of a bust when I learned that the Star Spangled Banner flag was cut up and distributed to the soldiers who had defended Fort McHenry during it's bombing in the War if 1812 (who thought that was a good idea????), although they did have one old flag on display, though it is not clear whether it is the uncut remains of the Star Spangled Banner flag or not.

After my Baltimore excursions, I headed out to Mt. Vernon, the home of our nation's first president George Washington. It is just outside of Alexandria, Virginia and about 15 minutes away from D.C. The foundation has preserved the home, as well as the thousands of acres of land that Washington owned, and the results are spectacular. Visiting is like stepping back into the 1700's. The land overlooking the Potomac is absolutely gorgeous. The whole visit really got me thinking about life back in the early days of the U.S. and feeling very sad for all of the slaves. They said George Washington had something like 377 slaves working for him, which absolutely baffled me. There was a very nice monument to the slaves efforts which cheered me up a little bit, but not much.

After my day trip to Mt Vernon, Margaret and I headed up to Philadelphia for the weekend, which allowed me to visit two states I had not previously been to (Delaware and Pennsylvania). I can't say much about Delaware (I had a Wayne's World flash back), but Philadelphia was great! We spent our first day doing a walking tour of all of the historical sites, including Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, the U.S. Mint, the Betsy Ross Flag House, and Elfreth's Alley, a street containing the oldest homes in the U.S., some dating back to 1703.

That evening we did a pub crawl, hitting a pub called McGillin's Olde Ale House, which claims to be the oldest continously operating tavern in Philadelphia (since 1860), a pub called Sassafras, a pub called the Plough and the Stars, and finishing off the night at the City Tavern, which brews 18th century ales from the recipes of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton.

The next day we visited the 9th Street Market, which is a sort of Italian flea market. We bought handmade pastas and bread which we took back to Maryland and had for dinner. We capped the market off by heading to the famous dueling cheesesteak shops Pat's and Geno's. According to our non-scientific taste test, Geno's won by unanimous vote. We finished off our visit with a delicious brunch at Farmicia. All in all it was a great trip and I really loved the charm and history of Philadelphia.