Natty Boh

Wow! There is so much to see and do, I hope that I will be able to become decently acquainted with the area before my time is up.

As I flew into Maryland, two thoughts surfaced above the rest: almost everyone has a pool, and there are a lot of trees! My plane had actually arrived twenty minutes early, and the deck was not ready for us, so we waited in the plane for twenty minutes. I was thankful when I picked up my luggage, nothing had gone wrong there. I think one of my fears is having my luggage lost after a flight, like if it did not make it onto the plane somehow or was sent somewhere else. That has never happened to me, and of all things to be afraid of it sounds kind of lame. Anyway, I found my luggage and Cammy picked me up from the airport and found my apartment for me. On the way she pointed out details of the surroundings and told me about weekly evening events. 

Once we arrived at my stop, she dropped me off (there really was no place for her to park) and I met Natalie, my roommate. Natalie is adorable. She showed me around the house and took me for a walk to the grocery store. I hadn't even given my stomach a second thought since I set foot on Baltimore soil --- actually I guess concrete is more appropriate in this case. Now I didn't think there was any dirt, you know soil, in Baltimore other than immediately about the trees and in some flowerbeds, but it turns out that Patterson Park is a few blocks from where I live. After our grocery store excursion, and me eating three PB&J sandwiches, we strolled to Patterson Park. 

The park is very large, I think it was originally 200 acres, and I am not sure if still is, but it has a variety of accommodations for everyone. We stopped by the community garden where Natalie's sister just got a plot (the wait list is seriously three years long) and Natalie helps her take care of it. Apparently, the gardeners have to worry about rabbits and snails. Natalie and her sister have put up a short metal wire fence to keep the rabbits out, and crush egg shells around the plants to keep the snails away. Once the plants were watered, and a bit of kale was harvested, we sauntered by the lake. The lake has multitudes of ducks in it, and small fish and turtles; people love to throw breadcrumbs in the water and watch the ducks waddle over to them. There are probably so many ducks in the lake because of all the people bringing food there. 

I remembered that I forgot to bring my camera with me as I was trying to absorb all of the information that I could. (Sorry, I just plumb forgot.) The park is beautiful, I will get some pictures to show y'all (as Lanetta would say; Lanetta is my South Carolinian roommate at Utah State). 

We walked home down a different street and Natalie told me about "Natty Boh." Natty Boh is kind of the unofficial Baltimore mascot if you will. Short for National Bohemian Beer, it started here and became Baltimore's official beer. The symbol, a man's head with one eye, is not trademarked and is on almost everything. It is a way of showing true Baltimorian status as I understand it. Since I didn't bring my camera, here is a picture I found online of the building that started this conversation. 

As you can see, Natty Boh or Mr. Boh is the head on the top of the building. We could see him from the park. 

Well, it is finally dark here and although I don't feel tired yet, I should probably try to get to bed. Maybe I can change my Utah time schedule to fit the local time in Maryland. There is a two hour time difference, and I have a lot of exploring to get done tomorrow. 

That's my first half day in Baltimore!