Wrapping Up 2011: "You Can Go Home Again"

 

It is always a pleasure to take to the Turnpike and point the car back home.  It is not just a change in scenery to head home - it is a trip back in time.  I can pick up discussions with my sister, father, friends, wherever they were left off last time.  Evidently I can still get whupped in a game of Go with my dad.  It is also good for this country boy to get back to his suburban roots.  I have always pretty much seen the good in urban and rural environments - I like them both.  I like the silence and solitude here in northern Ohio, but I also get a charge from that urban pace of life, all the people moving around presumably going somewhere important, and all the things to do and see and eat and hear.

This trip allowed a mere three full days in the Baltimore region.  Just opportunity enough to see the family, and maybe one friend who goes way back to a time when our ages were one digit.  And we had time for a frenetic trip to the mall to pick up some necessities (and to determine that, with the demise of many book and music stores, even one of the nicest malls in the country really does not really hold much appeal to me). 

We were able to get out into the city for a day, to eat the required "best crab cakes in Baltimore", to eat the required diner dinner (and bring over half of it back home in a box), and to have some discussion with Dad, and silliness with Sister.  It's all cathartic; all good.

We spent a few hours on the last day walking around Ellicott City, which has been visited by this blog in the past.  Initially settled early in our country's history, home of the terminus of the first rail line in the country, now full of cool little shops, antique malls, and restaurants. it has much going for it.  Its appearance is worlds away from that in nearby Baltimore.  The hillsides formed by the Patapsco River and its tributaries add a lot of character to the place.

One of the best experiences of the week occurred by chance when son William and I walked up a hillside road, mainly to avoid the inevitable shopping expedition fomented by others, but also out of curiosity.  And man, was my curiosity satisfied!  As we walked by what appeared to be an abandoned church, a woman walked up and asked if we were in town for the day.

I responded, "Well, a couple hours, anyway"
"Would you like a brief history of the town?  I am the county historian."
Then, "Would you two like a personal tour of the county museum?" (the "abandoned" church")
"Absolutely!"
The tour ensued, and included a chance to play the still-installed church organ and a small, portable, bellows-operated keyboard sitting nearby.  The historian/curator was as enthusiastic about her work as we were about the contents of the place.  It was a fun hour or so, and we were not missed by the shoppers.

My current wish for 2012 (aside from world peace, good health, and a bull market) is for more little chance events like that to pop up and make things interesting. 

Some pictures:

 Looking up in the Inner Harbor Barnes and Noble.  An adaptive reuse of a former power plant.  Cool

 The National Aquarium back there to the left.

 A shopping space downtown.

 Busy space in the city.

 Big, loud fun in the Howard County Museum. 

 Looking down on Ellicott City from a street well above the flood line.

 A very small hotel called the "Obladi".  It has four rooms - can you guess who they are named for? 

 This is just a bit of nostalgia for me.  This game was spotted in an antique mall.  

We had this game when I was a kid.  Does this make me an antique?

 Street scene in Ellicott City.  The museum curator said the town was presumably supposed to remind the visitor of a Welsh town, but she frankly does not see it herself.

Two family members at my sister's.  Bella (the pug, facing the camera) 

and Athena (the Boston lookin' the other way.)