Baltimore and Orioles Park at Camden Yard

Thursday, May 21

Day 44

 We headed out to Baltimore and parked downtown and started out on foot toward the inner harbor. We had very little trouble getting to Baltimore on the 95 which was a pleasant surprise. We walked around the inner harbor, went to the visitor's center and decided to walk over to Little Italy to look for some food and explore the area. We ended up at Piedigroota Bakery which was a delightful find. The owners had run a large commercial bakery in Italy and immigrated here in the 1990's.  Some say he may have been the inventor of tiramisu. We had a wonderful sandwich with some wonderful ground meat served warm with cheese and sauce on the side. They had fabulous looking desserts and cookies. We bought some biscotti to share at the game. Great lunch.

Inner harbor Baltimore

Little Italy

 Jack had been calling Mark and he and Beth were going to meet us at the stadium, Oriole Stadium at Camden Yards. We walked over there and it started to rain. Luckily we had grabbed 4 unbrella bags at the Visitor Center. Mark and Beth have season tickets to the Orioles, and invited us to come with them.  How great is that? They took us on a tour of the stadium so Jodi could take pictures and then after getting some paper towels to wipe the seats, we headed down. There was a steady rain by now, too bad, as these were the best seats we have had so far on our road trip! 

Mark and Jack

 We sadly watched the Orioles go up 4-0 with a grand slam off of Mariner's pitcher Happ. In the 2^nd the Mariner's scored 1. The rain continued and at the end of the 3^rd they called a rain delay. We were cold and wet so went up to the covered indoor area to dry off and warm up. It was fun to watch them put the tarp on.  They seem to have it down to a science.

Jodi and Jack await the resumption of the game during the rain delay

 We chatted and met Mark's younger brother Bruce and his friend and told them about the travel club and Unbound.  After 2 hours and 5 minutes the game resumed. The Mariner's tied up the game and had numerous chances to go ahead. Once again Robi strikes out with a man on third and one out. It was sad to watch, a few innings of non aggressive base running, pathetic. Oh well, we are growing accustomed to Mariner's losses and self destruction and lost opportunities.

How many years will we Mariner fans have to wait for one of these?

 We didn't get out of the game until after 6, it had started at 12:30. Mark and Beth drove us to a pub and we finished the evening eating, having a beer and enjoying their company. Mark and Beth have been to the Kentucky Derby, Belmont and Preakness on numerous occasions. At dinner, Mark showed us a photo of his new baby, a colt born recently that he is in a partnership with some others. They have another filly as well that is getting close to being able to race. They are headed to China in the fall in search of panda bears. Beth has a desire to visit places and things that are likely to soon disappear first.After a great day, we headed back to our bed in Wheaton.