Pinball and Crabs in Baltimore

Baltimore, Maryland is one of those places that you don't hear much about, and when people visit the US they usually head to the big five - LA, San Francisco, Chicago, Las Vegas and New York City. But we had so much fun visiting our cousins in Maryland recently.

We had cupcakes and strawberry tea at a princess tea party next to a corn farm, stuffied softies at a Build-a-Bear Workshop, bowled duckpins at the bowling alley, swam at a great local pool stuck in the 1960's, drove downtown to the National Pinball Museum (amazing!), and went to the mall for a girls' shopping trip. I picked over those sales racks like a mad woman and found some great pieces including a really special beaded dress at Anthropologie. I'm now living in my neon rose toothpick jeans from J.Crew and mustard stripe cashmere cardigan from Free People and fell madly for everything at Madewell. Fun!

We were staying in Hunt Valley, MD, surrounded by red cardinal-dotted forests and the rolling hills of horse country. I went for a walk most evenings to take a few photos of the local flowers, and chase unsuccessfully after a hooting owl. 

And yes, there was food too. We went a little nuts eating Old Bay-seasoned blue crabs at Ocean Pride, and had a beautiful meal (fried green tomatoes and more crab) cooked from the kitchen garden at The Manor Tavern. Here are some photos from our trip...

Have you been to Baltimore and surrounds before? Any other places we should visit next time?

Images: Steph Bond-Hutkin | Bondville