Welcome to Charm City
Our first post about Baltimore, our first month in Baltimore. What's good, Maryland.
Well well well, if it isn’t an entirely new coast. Welcome to Never Seen This Before, a blog about moving to a new city as a family. Moving is difficult. Moving across the country with two small children, two new jobs, to a coast we’ve barely visited, is a big deal. We were overwhelmed, anxious, and thought a regular blog would be a fun way for us to talk about our experiences as a couple and share things with friends back home.
We’re going to try to post each week with a few typical sections that shed light into our activities and share a little about Baltimore. If you like a section (or hate one, eesh!) let us know. We’ll keep working on the blog to make it fun, even if we aren’t already besties. If you like what you read, share it with someone!
Out and About
What were we up to this week (outside of work - boring - or raising our children - ugh).
Baltimore is known for being a small, intimate city with distinct neighborhoods (somewhat like San Francisco) and a lot of festivals. This past weekend we headed to R. House for a snack and found the annual Remfest happening. This is your classic street festival with a music stage, tons of local vendors and craftspeople, a little booze, and some good people watching.
A few things stood out. Firstly, they had a dedicated children’s entertainment area with face painting, sidewalk chalk, and a variety of really great children’s entertainers. Secondly, a local vermouth producer was there selling their delicious wares (with samples). We have some rose vermouth if you visit…
Kid’s Are Cute
A really neat - and challenging - aspect of moving to a new city with small children is that we get to completely reset and rebuild our routines.
Wesley absolutely loved playgrounds in San Mateo & Burlingame, so it was critical for us to begin exploring new ones in Baltimore (at least in the minutes between spring rain showers). The Roger’s Forge Tot Lot is a playground designed for young children and filled with toys.
This was a lifesaver.
We should explain. Our moving company - Colonial Van Lines - was awful and delivered our home items long after the advertised window. This meant Wesley was in a new city, in a weird home, without his toys for a really long time. Letting him go wild on a sandbox filled with awesome trucks really made his day.
This was also Ava’s first sandbox ever and she loved it. Though it’s key to note Ava sorta loves everything.
House Of Sisyphus
Home ownership comes with all sorts of triumphs and pain. In our experience, both are never-ending.
We cannot wait for our hydrangea to bloom in June!
Baltimore is a wet, humid, sticky, gorgeous, lush, vibrant ecosystem. It’s along the Chesapeake bay and in the spring it is raining all the time. As far as we can tell, the state plant is the creeper vine, among other invasive and aggressive plants. Also, there are lots of ants.
Grant had a masculine crisis as he feared the neighbors were judging his ragged, unkempt yard. The previous tenants were renters and it’s clear that nothing more than the most tepid interest in maintenance has been bestowed on the grounds for years. Despite the rain, he broke out the mower, his hoe, a saw, and shears to get the grass down to a reasonable height, remove about a dozen unwanted, thick saplings, and remove a few garbage cans full of weeds.
He is now in the process of covering the beds with extra cardboard, then mulch to both beautify and pacify.
Next Step: a paved back porch and front yard flower beds!
Good eatin’
The food in Baltimore is incredibly good so far. We want to share some of our favorite dining experiences.
One of the first “wow” restaurants we’ve been to is the Woodberry Kitchen Tavern. This is a tiny, quaint restaurant with an outstanding bar and a fantastic, highly seasonal, farm-to-table menu. We experienced this restaurant separately. Grant tried it on his own before Angela and the kids arrived. Then Angela and the Stuebings got to celebrate Albert’s birthday there while they were in town. We are so grateful they got to visit and to give Angela 4 extra hands on the flight from SFO—BWI with two small children.
Must Haves on the Menu
Tavern Board: When seated at the bar, they offer it automatically. It was a lovely charcuterie plate to share with local fruits, pickled things, and artisanal cheeses and condiments.
Butterscotch Pudding: Grant loved this because it was salty in the best way and brought back fond memories of a dessert his Grandma used to make.
We’ll admit it: We came to Baltimore expecting the food to be so-so at best. Call it Bay Area snobbery, or an after-effect of watching The Wire 20 years ago. But, Baltimore has really come out swinging. We will tell you about many other new favorites in the coming weeks!
Maryland is Weird Maryland Facts
We moved from the Bay Area in Northern California, which is about as far as you can get from Baltimore in the continental United States. As we learn about amusing local traditions, phrases, and cuisine, we’ll share it here.
This is a Lemon Stick, which is a “Maryland thing.” You take a lemon, cut it in half, squish it a little to “make it juicy,” insert a peppermint stick, and suck the lemon juice through the peppermint stick.
It’s weird, sticky…and pretty tasty. We bought one for $3 from the Mount Vernon Flower Mart to benefit a local charity.
Non-Parenting Activities
We don’t get a lot of time to ourselves, but we are trying some new things and exploring what Baltimore has to offer.
After a few weeks of transition, the kids are in daycare near Grant’s office. Angela is currently getting the house unpacked, organized and decorated. It’s the first solo time she’s had in awhile and she is enjoying the quiet. She starts the day with a walk around the neighborhood for at least an hour. She’s been so impressed with how green everything is and how beautiful and different the style of homes on the East Coast are.
Grant joined a Saturday run group - A Tribe Called Run - for their five mile loop. It’s a kind, welcoming, and diverse group. They meet at the Baltimore Museum of Art next door to John’s Hopkins University and an amazing sculpture garden. Each run goes on a different route exploring Baltimore. It’s a beautiful city with incredible, lush greenery everywhere. Some rough spots, of course, but it’s a great place to experience on foot.
 | A guest post by
|
Love your adventures so far. Glad it has been a good experience! Can't wait to visit later in the summer!!