The Evil Twins Take Maryland - Part 2

A Q&A between ET#1 and ET#2:

ET#1: You seemed to be fascinated by the architecture of some of the restored buildings in Baltimore. Did anything in particular stick out?

ET#2: I didn't realize how much of Baltimore's housing stock is comprised of 2 and 3 story rowhouses. So many of them are intact -- I hardly get to see so many large blocks like that in New York. Your neighborhood didn't have any buildings over 4 stories tall. It's nice to see the sky. Although, by mid-day, it would have been nice to have some more shade. It was so hot!

I was pleasantly surprised by the city's historic districts -- Fell's Point, the area surrounding the Walters Art Gallery, and the area near Canton Square are all lovely. What a contrast with the... not so nice parts of Baltimore.

ET#1: Scarier: ghetto in NYC, ghetto in Baltimore? Justify.

ET#2: Baltimore, by far, mostly because there is so little foot traffic. And there were far more burned out, boarded up buildings in Baltimore than in the areas of NYC that I've seen. Safety in numbers, as they say. Also, what's with all of the plastic bags blowing across the streets like tumbleweed? It's creepy.

ET#1: You had fried chicken twice in the weekend. Which was better: at Lexington market served with white bread or in Canton with country gravy? Who made better crabcakes: Woodberry Kitchen or the Lion's club?

ET#2: Hmmm... it's hard to choose. I have to break this down into two categories: value and tastiness. Lexington Market takes both categories -- 3 hot and spicy wings for $3! And there was live music! The Chicken Fried Chicken was sooooooo good, so good that I didn't need to eat anything 24 hours... I think they must put crack in their country gravy.

Woodberry Kitchen was in such a cool space (a converted mill) and their food was excellent, but the Lion's club had the Crustacean Station and Miss Crustacean! It's hard to compete with that.

ET#1: Did the BF enjoy any of his Maryland treats?

ET#2: He enjoyed the cookies that I bought at Lexington Market very much. Unfortunately, he didn't get to try the Crab flavored Utz chips. I ate those for dinner on Tuesday. You snooze you lose.

ET#1: Was the 160 mile drive to Crisfield worth the softshell crab sandwiches?

ET#2: For the softshell crab sandwiches only? Not really, but taken together with Smith Island, Tastee Post Office and world's largest sea captain, definitely! Also that old lady that helped dock the boat was pretty bad ass. I am pretty sure that I would have fallen off the boat.

ET#1: Will Miss Crisfield make it all the way to the Miss Maryland contest?

ET#2: Correction -- you mean Miss Crustacean. She is cute, but I saw her mother. She should work it while she can.

ET#1: How scared were you that you would have to spend the night on Smith Island? Can you estimate how many bug bites we would have sustained?

ET#2: I wasn't really that scared. I figured that we could buy bug spray at the little general store by the dock. After dousing ourselves in DEET, I estimate that you would have 15 mosquito bites, and I would have about 35. There was NO WAY we were missing the ferry back to Crisfield.

ET#1: Contained more sugar: Smith Island cake, orange creme doughnut, Pitango gelato?

ET#2: No brainer -- Smith Island Cake.

ET#1: Estimate the number of showers you took. How many did you want to take?

ET#2: I think I took 5 showers over the course of 2.5 days. It was about right.

ET#1: Of all the many activities, what was the most story worthy? Why?

ET#2: During our drive to Crisfield, I was fascinated by the lack of stand alone post offices. Combination Tastee Freeze/Post Office/Tastee Chicken and combination Post Office authorized Precious Moments vendor. I've never seen that before. Also, I won $1 from that scratch ticket I bought in Fruitland!

ET#1: Is Natty Boh still your favorite beer?

ET#2: If I don't want to get drunk off of 1/2 a beer. Yes. I also really like the mascot. He's cute.

Addendum: I liked Baltimore a lot more than I thought I would. The last time I was there was about 20 years ago and all I remember is how pissed my mom was that our minivan had been broken into while parked in the hotel parking lot. Also, I have started watching The Wire. Thanks, ET#1for pointing out the project where they filmed it while driving me to the train station. It's nice to recognize places on tv shows.