Baltimore

We're back in NY after a whirlwind road trip along the east coast. We spent yesterday catching up with family and today I'll be running errands in preparation for orientation, our weekend in Montreal, and the start of clinical rotations! After a month of studying, all the excitement is so welcome. I like to think I handled Step 1 studying well (no crying, minimal crankiness, etc.), but I feel like a whole new girl now that I have time for the other things I love to do. 

I wanted to get a start on posting pictures from our trip, before this weeks craziness really sets in. We originally planned on heading down to the Outer Banks first and working our way back up the coast, but the weather made it optimal to work our way down the coast instead. So we started our trip in Baltimore. 

We entered the city in the late afternoon, just in time for Verizon's 3G network to be out, which made for an interesting welcome. Somehow we ended up finding the Inner Harbor without Siri (pretty impressive for someone who routinely uses Siri even if it's only for the estimated time of arrival feature). We ate at Phillips Seafood Restaurant in Baltimore which was really good and then finally got to find out if Shake Shack lives up to all the hype (it does). The rest of the night, we spent walking along the Inner Harbor, finally finding our way to Federal Hill Park which has an incredible view looking out over the harbor. 

The following morning we spent at the Walters Art Museum. This is such a great museum that's free to the public. Ancient Egypt and Nubia was hands down my favorite exhibit. I've loved Egyptian history since I was around twelve years old and my great-aunt gave me a book about Egypt. One of the coolest parts of the exhibit is the mummy that the University of Maryland School of Medicine's Department of Diagnostic Radiology assisted the Museum in performing a CT scan on. They were able to determine the gender and approximate age, as well as a probable cause of death. They nicknamed her Mery which means "the beloved" in ancient Egyptian. Check out this nerdy/cool article (depending on how you look at it) here.

We spent a little bit more time walking around the beautiful streets before heading to Sherwood Gardens located in a gorgeous residential neighborhood of Baltimore. The tulips were at the very end of their season, with only a few areas where the plants were still hanging on tight to their petals, but the azaleas were all in full bloom. We spread a blanket out and just enjoyed the gardens for a while.

After visiting the gardens, we headed to Patapsco Valley State Park and hiked for a few hours before visiting friends who live in Baltimore. We ended the day with a delicious meal, good conversation, and lots of laughter. 

Outfit details are linked below with the exception of my jacket which I was unable to link via shopstyle so I found it via a direct link to the Loft website (denim jacket).  Also, my red and white dress is only available in the navy and white stripe now or a few other prints :)