June 25, 2001
I'm writing this in reflection of the week in whole. It's actually Friday the 29th and Tracey and I are home, safe and sound and we had a great time. We left around 9am on Monday morning, the weather already warm and the next 4 days would be dry but hot, each day in the mid 90s.

I had traveled route 295 south ( the New Jersey road that parallels route 95 in Pennsylvania all the way to the Delaware Memorial Bridge ) and I knew it would be the fastest route out of New Jersey. Now Lakehurst which is our home town is roughly in the central eastern part of the state and getting out of New Jersey is never just a simple ride. To the north, it's about 2.5 hours, to the west about 1.5 hours and to the south toward Baltimore is almost 2 hours.

We road and road until finally crossing over Delaware Memorial Bridge and finally out of New Jersey. I thought to my self that in a few days I'd be cussing that long drive home from this very bridge. We passed the exit to the last place we vacationed, near Wilmington, Delaware at the base of this bridge. The bridge by the way is very impressive - you climb and climb and finally make your way across the Delaware and finally on to Baltimore, another 1.5 hours to the Harbor.

We made it to the hotel fairly flawlessly, only snaking around a few blocks looking for the garage entrance and finally finding a parking space after 20 minutes. This garage also services the Gallery Mall, a very very upscale shopping mall attached to the hotel. We checked in, showing my Federal Government ID Card to get a $94 dollar a night discount off of the $249.00 a night room. I mentioned a few paragraphs up that I didn't mind the $135 a night with the discount, because the location is only feet from the Inner Harbor.

We checked in and made it up to our room with all 4 heavily packed bags. Tracey has never been blamed of packing light and this trip our luggage had to weigh in at a whopping 300+ pounds. We were up on the 11th floor over looking the city - Harbor view rooms were NOT available to Government Employees. I was more than pleased with the room size and the city view which would allow me to take some great time-lasped photos during the nights.

We settled in briefly before making our way out of the hotel, across the walkway from the Gallery Mall to the Harbor Mall One where a few eateries and lots of shopping could be done. Out of the doors in this Harbor Mall was the beautiful Inner Harbor, with water Taxis, massive sailing ships, live bands playing all types of music, the National Aquarium, the Baltimore Science Center and many other attractions.

We had lunch at the Capitol City Restaurant where Tracey had a Cobb Salad that over-filled a huge bowl and I tried the Crab cakes and fries. Our lunch was very good and gave us a chance to wind down from all the driving and checking in.

We always try to do two fun things a day. This day we walked around the Inner Harbor, and decided to go to the aquarium where they had a special sea horse exhibit. When I say sea horses, I must say that my idea of sea horses are the basic little guys that we sea in all the Disney cartoons. The sea horses here though were far from those stereotyped creatures I expected. Here is a Dragon-Lion Sea Horse, really neat looking and I was glad that it sat still enough to capture it's photo in the dim aquarium lighting. They came in many shapes, most camouflaged to suit their environments. Some looked like plants and ferns, others shaped like flowering blossoms or clinging vines that kept them safe from any predators.

We ate dinner that night at the Cheese Cake Factory, a chain of restaurants that are in California and the central eastern states and Washington, DC. I first ate there in Chevy Chase, MD in a posh shopping mall that sat below an Embassy Suite Hotel. This night, I had a rack of ribs that hung over the plate on both ends and Tracey went for some chicken something over pasta.

That night I took the first of my timelasped images out the hotel room window. It's at this point that I add a second little tale that will evolve over the next few days. I looked closely at the window and it had hand prints smeared all over the glass, something that I personally have a bit of a problem with - I don't touch glass or leave prints on glass, it's a bit of a phobia or disorder I have. Yes... Beemaster is a little strange at a few things, finger prints on glass is one of them. A good example, I use the Dell Laptop that I am typing this page on exclusively, and in over a year and a half I have NEVER touched the 15.4 inch screen. Call me weird, Tracey does - lol. The whole glass thing ( I think ) goes back to a very nasty cut on my finger I got when I was about 12 while swimming. I bled for a long time and it looked like the tip of my finger would be disfigured if it could not be repaired - p.s. the fingers fine :)

So I wiped down the window of this 4 star hotel room window and took a series of images, roughly 1.5 seconds exposure time at an f5 and iso of 200 for you photophobes. I like the red and white lights from cars that occur during slow exposures and these images really came out nice. The colors of night come alive with slow exposure too and these images area serve as screensaver images for my notebook.

I left a note for housekeeping to clean the windows and glass ( ugh ) desktop and end tables, which also were not cleaned well. Now, I already told you that I got this room at a great price, but housekeeping has no idea what I spent and they have to assume that I paid the $249 a night like everyone else. So a dirty room is NOT acceptable in a 4 star hotel. When we returned on the second day, the smears and dust had not been removed and we didn't even have coffee packets and creamoras for out coffee mess area.

I immediately wrote a note to housekeeping, housekeeping manager and then made a call to the hotel concierge. His name was Jiri and he promised to call the housekeeping manager right away and 4 hours later I still hadn't been contacted by the manager of housekeeping. I then went to the concierge desk and complained in person, handing him the list of complaints to pass on to the housekeeping manager. I told the concierge that since it was nearly 8pm that I didn't want anyone in my room until tomorrow.

Well guess what, the next day the room was in NO BETTER shape than the day before and I flipped out and called Jiri, telling him that HE was as lame as housekeeping and he couldn't explain why nothing had been remedied to my satisfaction. I told him that the very least he could do ( while I formulated my next approach to this problem ) was to have a pot of coffee sent to the room. He promised we would have it in 5 minutes. 5 minutes later a man came to the room with two packets of coffee, no creamers and needless to say, I was ready for bear!

I knew that THIS concierge and the housekeeping manager were a waste of my time. At checkout, I was ready to approach the hotel manager, but I noticed a new concierge on duty so I thought that maybe, just maybe I'd get some satisfaction. Her name was Amanda, a very young lady who was obviously juggling many balls at once. I told her all about the issues of the past three days and that I was leaving this hotel with a very unsettled issue looming over my head. She read the note I had prepared for the hotel manager and she said "Follow me!"

We walked to a PC Terminal and she brought up my account. I noticed that she was amazed at the $135 a night rate I already had, but she was determined to make me a happy patron. She typed for 5 minutes while answering questions from two other employees and answering the phone, redirecting the call somewhere. All the while, I was the point of her interest and finally she handed me a new print out of my bill which she had cut EXACTLY IN HALF. She said, "I hope this is adequate, there is no reason that anyone should ever leave our hotel unhappy with any of our services." I looked Amanda in the eyes and said to her that She had been the only person in three days that actually showed responsibility for the hotels actions. I shook her hand and thanked her again.

What would have been a $830 bill ( at normal rates ) and $562 at government rate, turned out to be a $262.34 bill for three days, including state, city and energy taxes, plus the $48 parking fee. It just goes to show that as consumers, we don't have to take less than expected conditions when traveling. It took several tries to get this issued resolved and I surely hope that Amanda doesn't get in trouble for doing the RIGHT THING, but after all was said and done, I got compensated for the hotels indiscretions. But don't forget something, a few swipes with a cleaning rag and a few packs of coffee would have averted this matter - so I don't feel sorry for the hotel or anyone who got chewed out because of this matter! Now... back to our vacation!!! :)

June 26, 2001

On day two the heat settled in, but we were up early and made our way to the water-taxi. What a great deal, $5 a day and you have unlimited travel among the 15 stops around the harbor. We got aboard and headed toward Fells Point, an area known for shopping and eateries - but ended up getting off at the Fort McHenry stop instead. Fort McHenry was vital in the protection of Baltimore Harbor in 1812 when the US and Britain had conflicts that could destroy our young country. The fort was an interesting place, although I really don't know how much of the fort was original. Like most places of early history, buildings have be updated, refurbished, furnishings were all replicas and very little of these historical villages resembled what they had in history.

The State Parks Department Guide, who had a striking resemblance to Canadian Public TV's Nature Nut John Acorn, was a real talker. He obviously enjoyed history about the fort and he moved us from area to area, telling us the events that lead up to Francis Scott Key's writing of the Star Spangled Banner. It was down right HOT by time we got out of the fort and we made our way back to the water-taxi and on to Fells Point.

Fells Point will look nice in about 20 years when all the older building are torn down and replaced. Quaint it ain't, but there are a few good shops near the harbor worth checking out. I did find a few latte' mugs that had honeybees on them and I bought two with ceramic coasters. The girl in the shop asked me a few beekeeping questions, she has a hive of some kind in her porch and then we were on our way back to the hotel. We took it easy for a while, argued with the concierge as told above and then went to Little Italy via Water-Taxi.

We walked along the small Italian section of the Inner Harbor and turned down a few expensive places for dinner, not because of the prices but for the lack of atmosphere. We settled on Saltimios, an old fashioned looking inn that had small but roomy dining areas with quiet music. I had veal Franchaise which was okay, although it was served with a thick spaghetti that totally turned me off. Tracey ate another chicken thing which was pretty good. We finished up in time to rush for the Water-Taxi and on to the Science Center for the 8pm IMAX 3D showing of In To The Deep, an incredible venture into the large sea kelp and all the fish life that depends on it.

Every so often a wife will drive a husband nuts, turning his face red and forcing horns and sirens to pop from his head. Such was the case when I sat there in total amazement of the 3D show which gave you a true prospective of seeing the ocean from a divers goggles. You could reach out and touch everything and literally see around objects in the water which appeared to be all around you. It's hard to impress me when it comes to imaging, but I was blown away.

Then... I looked at Tracey who had taken her glasses off because she didn't like anything that appeared right up to her face. She sat there, looking at the cross-eyed view of two images off-set from each other in various shades of gray. Now, put yourself in the Beemaster's shoes: I ran around getting to this show, hopping Water-Taxis, running around just to see a show that took millions of dollars to produce and more importantly, I had expected to experience this with my darling wife. Then, here she is sitting like a mental patient viewing the screen as if she is cross eyed.

I told her to put the glasses on and close one eye, at least then it would be a NON 3D picture, but viewable - she didn't like that either. Well, being the typical husband I am, I went nuts and stormed back to the hotel after the show, not having much to say the rest of the night. To her, it was no big deal, but than again - she's not a man either :)

June 27, 2001

The next morning, after making up with Tracey :) It was time to have breakfast and off to the Science Center. We ate at the Harbor Mall in the food court. We really didn't find any breakfast place, other than Wayne's Ribs where we ate the day before - so Tracey ended up with toasted bagel and I had an incredible pastrami on really thick and fresh rye. No pickle though, that was disturbing to me. Then we walked around and I found a Personalized Hat and Shirt Cart and decided to get a Beemaster.com Hat. I chose the hat type, font style and logo for the hat which is three bees walking over comb.

I paid my $34 dollars ( ugh again ) and said I'd be back later to get the hat. Without killing the suspense, I really like the hat and I think the vendor did a great job. Then on to the science center. They had two special shows going on: The Titanic Relics Exhibit and Microbes, a walk into the spooky world of viruses.

The titanic collection was very impressive, although no photography was allowed. There was one-of-five ship telegraph wheels - the large lollipop shaped device used to signal full speed ahead, stop, full reverse, etc.. Lots of clothing, bags, jewelry, cups and plate and even a very cold chunk of iceberg that was somehow cooled internally and frigid to the touch. There was a simulator of the three engines and wheel of the ship, where you try to avoid hitting the iceberg. I tried and failed, then a young girl about 8 years old came up and easily steered the huge ship to safety and on to New York.

We Also caught a short show at the planetarium and then off to pickup my new Beemaster.com hat. Day three at the hotel room, with no coffee and still smudges was the tip of my iceberg - no pun intended and I as you read, my wheels were turning. We didn't do much until dinner, which was at Philip's Seafood Buffet in Harbor Mall 2. Now Tracey don't do seafood so we walked through first to see if there was anything that she would eat.

We found lots there for both of us, so we sat down and I ate like a pig for over an hour. I had it all: crab imperial, crab legs, boiled shrimp, crawfish, tuna and grouper on a stick, mussels, crab balls ( they're bigger than I imagined ) piaea, little neck clams and other great food. Tracey had Maryland style chicken, lightly battered and flavorful and lots of salads and side dishes. The price was $23 each and even if she didn't get her moneys worth... I did. :)

We went back to the hotel and and I waited for the 9:15pm show of Journey of Man at the 3D IMAX. I wasn't dragging Tracey with me, not again - she decided to go shopping. I quickly walked the 1/4 mile along the beautiful harbor with all the eateries and music to the Science Center but the show was "Sold Out" according to the sign in the window, but it was actually members only night and I took the walk back to the room, only to find I left my room entry key on the smeared and coffeeless desk.

Tracey of course was shopping or something. I banged on the door and she didn't answer. I went around the Gallery Mall, thinking she would probably be there, although not knowing that she was a few blocks away at the Barnes and Noble. I left a message on the room voice mail and went to the lounge.

I barely sat down and an interesting Lady who prefers the name of Cooper sat beside me. We talked about a half hour about everything from Baltimore to Beekeeping. Turns out that Cooper is one of the artist that created the Fish out of Water art around the city. Her fish was in Canton, not too far from Fells Point. She was a great artsy person with whimsical and spurious thoughts that filled the air. Then my cell phone rang.

Tracey joined us in the lounge, always interesting when you wife joins you and another woman at the bar - lol. I introduced them and we continued to talk about everything cats to kids and so much more. An interesting note; we exchanged web addresses and Cooper was the very first person that actually emailed me after talking about Beemaster.com. Soon we all went our ways and I hope we all get to keep in touch.

June 28, 2001

We packed early, dragging the four cases and a cooler full of ice to the car. I had a single quest on the adventure, that was to bring my Mom back a few pounds of crab meat, cooked crabs and claws. So far, the only market I found was in Dells Point and I absolutely wasn't going to bring anything back from there, I just found it to be a dirty place.

We had breakfast at Waynes again, both of us ordered scrambled eggs and sausage. I just wasn't into breakfast, although I had been very successful at dealing with Amanda the Concierge. We then took a taxi to Lexington Market, which is NOT in a very nice area of Baltimore - definitely not some place you'd want to be after dark. But Lexington Market was without a doubt the neatest market place I had ever visited. Filled with the freshest fish and meats I'd ever seen, with eateries and vegetable stands and so much food that you could spend a day trying to see it all.

I got a pound of claw meat, a pound of lump back fin and 2 bags of claws. We hurried back by cab to the car and put everything on ice. After a short agreement, we decided to head on home - it was just noon. Route 295 was slow and tedious, no clue to the slow traffic. We were home by 4pm, taking nearly an hour longer than it took only days earlier.

We loved Baltimore Inner Harbor and the many things to do. We never did make the subway or the bus service, but we were happy staying near the Inner Harbor where the touristy feel kept us safe from the seedier parts of Baltimore. I'd recommend this trip to anyone.