Food and Life
We were coming out of a organic market (review on that coming another time), and the kids and I noticed a little buzz outside a stoop down the block. As were were walking towards our car, we got close enough to notice that it was a snow cone place. Or as they like to call them in Baltimore, a snowball place.
People were gathered on the double-wide stoop, alternately placing their order and waiting for it to be filled, and more people had collected on the sidewalk and near the curb. Chatting with each other. Calling out to familiar faces. Exchanging hellos and stories.
This is the kind of place you visit when you’re traveling. A place that doesn’t make the “top tourist spots” of the city, but the local well-kept secret type places.
And so, of course, we took our place in line and started furiously scanning the menu.
You know, so we didn’t look like an out-of-towner when it was our turn to place our order.
The flavors available are exhaustive (over 150!), and the combinations impressive. It was one of those sort of menus that once you make a decision, you need to stop looking, lest you change your mind.
The line moved quickly and when it was our turn at the window, we were greeted with a smile and a friendly face. We ended up going with orange, cherry, and orange with marshmallow. Yes, marshmallow. Like fluff, but a bit smoother.
What an awesome twist.
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When we were planning our quick trip to Baltimore, visiting the Baltimore Zoo was our main reason for going. Outside of that, I had a short list of other area attractions and general quirky stops to choose from in filling up our weekend. Although the aquarium was on that list, once we found out that there was a Ripley’s Believe It or Not! museum, that took the lead.
Because while the aquarium would have been awesome, I also remembered how much Nick loved visiting the Ripley’s museum down the shore last spring.
And so it was.
This Ripley’s is right in the heart of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, which really means that it is, in theory, a great location, it was also meant it was a bear to try and find parking on a Saturday night. It doesn’t have its own lot, a nearby parking garage was closed, there was a downtown event that night, and it meant that we circled the area “one last time” for about 45 minutes. Just when I was about to throw in the towel (and really stop believing in the luck I usually have when it comes to parking), I found a spot a short distance away (and I wasn’t entirely sure it was a legit space, so we mostly said a quick prayer that the car would be there when we came back out; spoiler alert: it was).
This Ripley’s location is over 13,000 square feet, packed with all the weird, odd, and downright squeamish exhibits you have come to know and expect from them (over 500 exhibits!). Unlike the Atlantic City location, this one is several floors, and also has a 4D movie theater experience, which we loved. It might have even been our favorite part.
Each of the Ripley’s locations have completely different exhibits, which tells you two things: 1) there are a lot of weird oddities to see in the world and 2) each place is a different experience, so it’s not “visited one Ripley’s, visited them all.” The Baltimore location, however, had more in terms of “museum” exhibits, so it was not all ew-gross-type stuff around every corner.
Which pleases this Mom to no end.
That being said, there was still plenty of gross exhibits throughout.
Which pleased my 11-year-old boy to no end.
So everyone was happy.
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