Seein’ the DMV: A Day in Baltimore and Some More Old Business

First, the Old Business

Found another set of pictures with no post to describe them. This time, I traveled to the Living History Farms in Urbandale, a suburb of Des Moines, with my new student host daughter for a rally during President Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign for his second term in office.

I wanted my host daughter to experience this great American event as part of her time studying in the United States. The young woman was from China, and I wanted her to observe a part of the election process and to see the president in person. One of the nice things about being in Iowa was that candidates for president, even incumbents, made it their business to visit the state regularly, so this was not the first time I had attended an Obama event. In fact, I was at his first visit to Grinnell College in 2008. Even then, Secret Service agents had to be a part of his entourage. Of course, their presence was heightened now that Mr. Obama was the sitting president.

Fortunately, there was plenty of local and national news coverage still available online, including this story published by television station KCCI (https://www.kcci.com/article/president-obama-gives-speech-in-urbandale/6871936) and CBS News (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-republican-convention-merely-a-rerun/). In addition to musical entertainment (I should remember who the artist was, but I don’t–btw, Bruce Springsteen was the musician at the final rally in November 2012), several Iowa pols spoke, including then-US Senator Tom Harkin.

The pictures from that rally are at: https://singin1.com/piwigo/index.php?/category/Obama-at-Living-History-Farms-090112. Can’t promise there won’t be more backtracks because I keep finding these missing posts.

Back to the Present Day

I set the alarm for 7 a.m. because I had packed that Sunday with a lot to see and do. When the alarm sounded, I used an expletive that I won’t post here since I try to keep things PG-rated and deactivated the damned thing. (Hey, one of the perks of retirement is being able to decide whether to regularly get up at a scheduled time, and that was a habit I happily ceased.) Finally left home at noon for the hour-long drive to Baltimore, Maryland. This, of course, required me to adjust my plans. Fortunately, the only time-sensitive part of the schedule was the dinner cruise’s non-refundable ticket. I decided to save my stop to the National Aquarium for another day since my membership there allows me open admission.

I had downloaded a self-guided, mostly driving tour app when I did my first trip into Shenandoah National Park in February 2024.  The app allows one to add new locations for a reasonable cost, so I added a tour of Baltimore. The principle is supposed to be that it directs you to points-of-interest and offers historical and other information to enhance the experience, information I appreciate when I don’t know anything about them. Between the app and using my installed GPS for turn-by-turn directions, I found most of the points-of-interest the tour app recommended. One thing, though, I suspect that the GPS I normally use and the tour app don’t communicate with one another and that I needed to use a different GPS that would do so. I’ll try this the next time I do a tour.

The weather during April 2025 had ranged to cold and stormy to hot and humid, so I felt very fortunate that this Sunday was a beautiful, warm day perfect for this type of touring. I was hoping it would hold up as forecast throughout the day.

Anyway, the tour started at the Baltimore Visitor Center at the Inner Harbor. I didn’t see any place I could park without paying to park in a garage and walking, so I pretty much bypassed that site since I’ve visited the Inner Harbor before and would be back that evening for the dinner cruise.

Next, I was directed to Fells Point, driving past the National Katyń Memorial Park. Even the roads in the area were still made of rough brick, nothing new for SB, still,…. The historic sites included the bar where poet Edgar Allen Poe frequented and the last place he was believed to have been before his mysterious death in 1849, the Edgar Allen Poe House–I drove past the site of his grave but couldn’t locate it without getting out of the Silver Bullet. There were also historic sites suggested by the app for abolitionist Frederick Douglass, a monument to America’s first president, George Washington, that preceded the one in Washington, DC, the state capital building, an African American museum, the home of journalist H. L. Mencken, and a museum honoring baseball’s Babe Ruth. The stop at Federal Hill offered a limited overlook view of Baltimore, but I couldn’t stop long because the busy park had no nearby parking in sight. As I drove, I also captured a number of murals that added to the story of Baltimore.

The last stop of the tour was Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine, part of the National Park Service. I reached the gate just before 3:30 p.m. My first order of business as always, after finding the bathroom, is to find and speak to the rangers on duty in the visitors center. He mentioned that there was only a short time before they began shutting down the fort itself for the day and that there was a short film enactment of the battle at Ft. McHenry showing in a few minutes. After stepping out back and seeing the walking distance to the fort, I realized I didn’t have time to get there and make any useful done with the remaining time, so I took a couple of pictures and went back into the visitor center for the film. It was an interactive film with timed ceiling light flashes to add to the sense of rocket explosions. At the end, the screen dramatically rose to the playing of the “Star-Spangled Banner,” and everyone seemed compelled to rise to their feet to the sight of  the fort in the background and a flag rising on the pole above it. Personally, the sight again reminded me that, despite the many bad and harmful parts of this country’s history–some pretty recent, I am proud to be an American and am still hopeful that we can make it better for ALL of us.

One thing about being there that late, I was able to get all the pictures I wanted without bothering or being bothered by crowds. Some of the pictures are below:

The rest of drive tour pictures are at: https://singin1.pics/piwigo/index.php?/category/Seein-the-DMV-Day-in-Baltimore-Drive-Tour-042725

I quickly picked up a couple of souvenirs then headed back to the Inner Harbor. After a little trial and error–including turning the wrong way on a one-way street, I found the garage where the boat tour recommended I park. Fortunately, I had allowed an hour to get to the boat because I needed almost all of that time to park and walk to where the Spirit of Baltimore was berthed. The boat cruise is part of City Cruises, which I had used for last year’s Cherry Blossom cruise. This time, however, I booked the 2.5-hour tour through Tripadvisor, which was problematic because that decision didn’t afford me the choice of the more expensive window-side tables. Since my primary purpose for the solo trip was to take pictures, the aisle table I got seemed to be a problem until I realized that it made the buffet table and other services more accessible. I decided that I should be able to get the pictures I wanted after dinner by sitting at the lower level stern of the boat–pictured to the left–during its return to the Inner Harbor. I recalled as I boarded that the area should give me an excellent view.

The staff was very considerate of my accessibility needs, from helping me board and depart the boat, to checking to see if I needed anything as frequently as the seemingly full-capacity guest presence allowed. The buffet had plenty of variety as well. No one seemed to complain, but with the amount of alcohol flowing, spirits were high. I stuck to ginger ale because I still had to drive home that night.

I got a couple of pix from my table, but it wasn’t until we reach the badly damaged Francis Scott Key bridge that I decided it was time to move outside. This was also the point where the boat turned about and started its return to dock. A number of guests went to the windows to get closeup pictures of the remains. I took a few inside then stationed myself outside. In addition to the numerous pix of the Key Bridge I shot, I took the panoramic below in the hope of capturing the full scene (click on the photo to enlarge):

There is a media site that describes the accident that destroyed the bridge and resulted in the deaths of six construction workers: https://www.wbaltv.com/article/key-bridge-collapse-timeline/64278264. Plans have been announced about the future of the bridge: “Gov. Wes Moore revealed the design for the new Key Bridge early last month — the state’s first cable-stayed bridge, which will stand 45 feet taller than the original bridge and is set to open as soon as fall 2028.”

Lord willing, I will try to visit again once the new bridge is done.