ON THE ROAD

No trip to Baltimore is complete without crab cakes, National Beer (is light 'cause it's brewed in the dark) and a pilgrimage to the Babe Ruth birthplace museum (walking distance from Camden Yards). If there are children involved, the Aquarium should be considered obligatory.

 

The aquarium sucks.

We had to wait two hours to get in only to find that they'd cancelled the shows for the day. We were out of there 45 minutes after got in.

But megadittos on the crabcakes. Everyone outside Baltimore screws them up, but nobody messes them up in the Inner Harbor.

 

If traveling by car and spending more than three days in the Baltimore area, head down to Annapolis for a day, or go across the Bay Bridge to the Eastern Shore, which is probably one of the most pristine parts of Maryland.

 

flying headbutt is right about Little Italy in Baltimore. There are oodles of places to eat. Literally every other building is a restaraunt and LI is only a 10-15 walk from the Inner Harbor/downtown area. I was just there for a wedding as well. The only thing that ruined the weekend was the flock of Yankees fans in town. Though there was some salvation in that because a couple from Jersey that was in town for a game dropped this gem on me, "We have a bet. Is Chicago in Illinois or Ohio." Shit you not. I said Ohio.

 

hit up a couple of the smithsonian museums. you can't do them all in one day or even two days, but pick a couple that spark your interest and go. the national galleries of art have a solid collection, even when there's not some big exhibit. plus, it's your tax dollars at work. you don't have to pay to get in.

if you want to try ethiopian food, go to zed's in georgetown. in chinatown, check out tony cheng's, but eat upstairs. downstairs is mongolian barbeque. if you don't want chinese in chinatown but want chinese food, go to city lights in dupont circle. the big hunt in dupont circle used to be a decent place to have drinks, but i haven't been in ages. if you want to spend some cash and have tapas, jaelo near chinatown is a solid choice.

flying_headbutt is right on about old town alexandria and the clarendon neighborhood of arlington. just take the orange line metro to the clarendon stop if you want to check out arlington. plenty of restaurants and bars. in old town, there are a couple of decent seafood joints at the end of king street near the potomac river - the fish market is one of them.

check washingtonian.com for its list of good cheap eats, too.

i recommend the holocaust museum. i don't recommend the spy museum - thought it could be much better. plus, there's admission.

 

pittsburgh for the all-star game?

 

Primanti's for sure in the Strip District and also, if you can, Pittsburgh Fish Market in the Westin.

Or it all of that fails, I'll grill.
;D

 

Anyone know of clean, convenient, safe (and relatively cheap) hotels in San Francisco?  Wireless internet and/or breakfast would be a nice perk. 

I have no Marriott points, so brand isn't a requirement.

I'm currently debating the Hotel Union Square  and The Cartwright Hotel, both in about the same neighborhood and price range.  There are so many options, those were just the first two that looked reasonable.

 

Try the Renaissance Parc 55.

 

If you don't need to be in the city, check the airport area. That's where the most affordable hotels are in S.F.
Also, you usually can't go wrong with hotels around Union Square. Though, there is one and I can't remember the name of it, that had shared bathrooms. It's a boutique hotel and there are like eight rooms per floor with one bathroom per floor. Not cool.