Tailgates and Tanlines: September 2013

Sunday was our third and final day in Baltimore. We had such a great time and would have loved to have stayed another night, but we were ready to get back home to our babies, and sleep in our own bed, LATE on Monday morning since it was a holiday and a day off work. So we woke up early and got everything packed up, then loaded up the car, and walked down to the Inner Harbor. Since we didn't have time on Friday, we went to the National Aquarium Sunday morning. Neither of us had been in forever, so we were really excited. And small world, the manager of the service desk at my company, where I used to work until I moved to my current position, also happened to be visiting the aquarium! We had a great time seeing the fish...both the small ones and the BIG shark-size ones lol! And of course the dolphins, my favorite part!

After the aquarium, we went to eat at The Cheesecake Factory for the third lunch in a row haha, what can I say, we find something we like and stick to it! Although all the times we've eaten there, only once have we actually gotten cheesecake, on Josh;s birthday. We did a little shopping at the mall on the Inner Harbor, then headed over to the race track. We went and got in our seats, and waited for the race to start! It was a lot of fun, I like the Indy Cars a lot more than the regular cars at Nascar, and there were a LOT of wrecks. Almost every lap, someone wrecked. But with it being a street race, we only saw the wrecks via the Jumbo Tron, unless they happened right on the part of the street in front of us, which never happened. So that takes the fun out of it a little bit...not that someone wrecking is fun, but let's face it, it is part of the reason a lot of people go to the races. But overall, we had a really good time. After the race ended, we walked back to the parking garage, got the car, and headed home! There was so traffic so it was a quick drive, we got home around 7:30pm...stopped by the house to drop off our things and see the pups, then we headed back into town for a quick bite to eat and a run to the grocery store. By the time we were back home for good, I was ready to unpack, sort some laundry, and sit on the couch with my feet up!! All in all, it was a really great belated anniversary weekend celebration! I love our little weekend getaways, and we have another coming in 2 weeks, so I am really excited for that!

Saturday was our one full day in Baltimore, and we definitely did try to cram a lot in there! We woke up and got ready, then headed down to the race track for the Le Mans Series autograph session from 11:00am - 11:45am. They had it organized very well, with the different cars set up in different areas and the drivers sitting at tables, ready to sign autographs. I had thought it would just be one big chaotic crowd, so I was really happy to see that it was spread out and well organized. Josh had told me awhile ago, when I first gave him the tickets, that maybe Patrick Dempsey would be there (Dr. McDreamy for my fellow Grey's Anatomy-obsessed readers!) because he has a racing team and would probably be racing in the Grand Prix. I had thought it would be a long shot, but you never know. As we walked around the track, I looked at all the drivers' names on the signs, just keeping the hope alive that maybe he would be there, even though we had been unable to find out any information. Then we turned a corner, and saw a HUGE crowd. I looked at the name on the trailer, and sure enough...Patrick Dempsey! So we quickly got in line, and at 11:00am on the dot....here he came out of the trailer, chewing a piece of gum and looking just as amazing in person as he does on TV! Josh and I are currently in the process of re-watching our Grey's Anatomy DVDs, purely by coincidence; I had decided a month or so ago to start over from Season 1...I've only seen through Season 6 so I need to catch up on the most recent seasons but figured I'd start from the beginning. So needless to say, add to the fact that Patrick Dempsey is on my "list of 5 celebrities", and you know I was definitely thrilled lol! He was signing a race photo, as was the poor guy sitting with him, who of course no one cared about haha, but on the off chance that he would actually be there, I had also brought along the insert from Season 3, which is the one we are in the middle of haha! So he signed that for me as well....and kept the permanent marker I had provided, as well haha. I gladly let him keep that LOL. He was super nice, and it was definitely the highlight of my weekend. Then there's Josh's conversation with him..."Hey man what's up....good luck today dude." LOL.

We went around to a few other tables and got some other autographs, then walked back to the hotel to drop off the shirts and hat Josh had bought, along with the autographs (I would've cried if anything had happened to those!). We came back down to the Inner Harbor and went to lunch, at The Cheesecake Factory for the second day in a row, and then walked back to the race track to get the autographs of the Indy Car drivers. My mom is a huge Helio Castroneves fan, so I was dying to get his autograph for her, and with TWO people in front of us, they cut off the autograph line. I was so bummed; I would have loved to have given her that as a Christmas present. But, I guess it wasn't meant to be. By this time the ALMS race was about to start, so we found our seats. It had been blazing hot, 95 degrees all day, but luckily the sun went behind a building right as the race started, so it cooled down a bit for those 2 hours. It was a lot of fun to watch, although I almost prefer an oval track like they have at Nascar, because you can only see the part of the track where you are seated, and you have to watch the rest on the Jumbo Tron. But it was definitely an interesting experience! The Corvette won, so Josh was happy. After the race, we headed down to the Little Italy section of Baltimore, and had dinner at a yummy Italian restaurant called Sabotino's. Ate way way too much though....but still had a big bowl of frozen yogurt afterwards from a place called Yolly Molly. What can I say, we're frozen yogurt freaks. It was about 8:00pm at this point, so like the old people we are, we headed back to the hotel to relax. I had planned a surprise when I booked the room, and had champagne and 2 glasses waiting for us when we arrived on Friday. We had planned to drink it on Saturday night, but I ended up not feeling very well. Around 9:30pm we tried to find the closest Patient First because I felt so horrible... but thanks to Josh's "bipolar" GPS, we ended up in an old abandoned train yard at 10:00 at night, NOT in the best part of Baltimore, and the only thing around was a security car belong to one of those "rent a cop" type companies. I rolled down the window of our car, and the officer rolled down his window...he was about 85 years old and said he wasn't from the area so he didn't know of any Patient First. So that was a bust. But luckily I was feeling a little better, so we high-tailed it out of there, thankful to be alive, and booked it back to the hotel for the night!