From Back Country Beauty to the Big City Hustle

After spending some much needed time on the open road, driving through mountains and spending nights alone, I have been around more civilization than needed for the last week or so. I wasn't really concerned with using public transportation to make it from Philly to Baltimore for the weekend excursion with fellow Tampa-onians, but it turned into a giant fiasco. First I forgot the tickets to the much anticipated music festival and reason for the visit to Baltimore, causing me to miss the first bus. The second bus was boarding, when I realized I had lost my ticket in the 3 hours since purchasing. Then the train that was supposed to be leaving (4 hours after my original departure time) was cancelled. So finally, I made it-by car-5 hours later than expected, but I made it non-the-less.

Baltimore, the Virgin Mobile Music Festival, and the creepy haunted house on the hill, aka the b&b that housed us, were all remarkable. We all drank our fare share (and then some) of booze, ate like champions, and walked just about all over the city.

From Baltimore, Sarah and I headed for the South Jersey Shore. Prestigious Avalon was the destination. Staying with friends of a friend in a multi-million dollar home 5 houses off the water, was a little bit of a culture shock after hostel-hopping, but phenomenal. We couldn't have asked for better weather or a more perfect living arrangement for the "pretend-u-r-rich" get-away.

Then the pristine coastline of Avalon turned into the sleazy streets of Atlantic City for a quick stop including minimal gambolling. Conclusions Drawn; Atlantic City has the highest ratio of smokers/ (hooked to)oxygen tanks of any city in the world.

And with this, my journey through the northeast has almost come to an end. This weekend will be filled with touring the Big Apple and after a little R&R I'm on the road again, headed west. Although it's been nice, I'm ready to go, and have decided I will never reside in this part of the country.