I had a wonderful Birthday/Labor Day Weekend! On Friday, Rob and I drove to Baltimore. Rob kept telling me it was going to rain but I insisted we continue. “Ernesto Slermesto! The weather is going to be fine! You can’t believe weathercasters! Everything is a hurricane!” I used Priceline.com to get us a 4 star hotel (Renaissance Harborfront Hotel) for a very cheap price! Hooray Priceline! We got to the hotel and the rain started to fall. Instead of walking around the Inner Harbor we decided to tour the Aquarium. We stopped at an Irish pub and ordered Natty Bo. The bartender said, “We don’t carry Natty Bo” Rob looked horrified and he whispered, “If you don’t got Natty Bo, then your bar could use some fixin'”

The aquarium was virtually empty. I suppose all the smart tourists stayed home. Upon walking into the aquarium, Rob stuck his hand into a fish tank and petted a trout. This was my first time at the aquarium yet I felt no compulsion to touch the fish. We spent an awful lot of time watching stingrays. Rob made numerous Steve Irwin jokes which I now find chillingly prophetic. Looking at the octopus, the Aquarium guide told me that Octopuses are VERY intelligent. Rob agreed and said that for just a few prawn they’ll do your taxes and basic trigonometry. We left the aquarium right when the rain really picked up. We held my golf umbrella straight out in front of us. We couldn’t see and walked right in front of a car. This probably would have been a bad thing except the car was a taxi and we got in and instructed the cab driver to take us to John Steven’s Restaurant in Fell’s Point. We ate a ton of bread and a pound of shrimp smothered in Old Bay Seasoning. Luckily they had Natty Bo which made Rob very, very happy. It was hard getting a cab back to the Inner Harbor but as fate would have it, we bumped into the same cab driver!
We were a bit late getting to the Ram’s Head Live. There was a relatively long line waiting for tickets. Just before it was our turn to buy tickets, a man approached Rob and offered us two tickets for a discounted price! We bought the scalped tickets! With he money we saved, we bought more Natty Bo!

The opening act was a trio called Langhorne Slim. They weren’t too bad. We had a great spot in front of the stage but Rob said he would prefer to sit because his back hurts if he stands too long. We went to the second floor and found some seats front and center. Looking out over the audience, I noticed there was a large amount of shining bald heads. The Violent Femmes came out and they sang their hits and some obscure stuff. They had two drummers, one of which played what looked like the little refrigerator I had in college. I felt bad that he had yet to graduate to a full-scale drum kit. Other musicians came out and joined The Femmes on some songs. One guy played an instrument that was apparently constructed using Tinkertoys and a dryer vent hose. He had a great time playing it but I really couldn’t determine what sound it actually emitted. Suffice to say, the concert was great!

The concert let out just as the rain slowed a little bit. We were able to get back to the hotel without the umbrella turning inside out.

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel’s restaurant. I ordered SWEET POTATO PANCAKES WITH PECANS AND RAISINS AND REAL MAPLE SYRUP! We discussed staying in Baltimore but the weather was just miserable. We were both tired and it seemed best just to pack up and head back home. The traffic wasn’t overly horrendous and we got back home around 3:00.