And sometimes you take three days off of bicycling because your dear sister is in town, and she’s a runner, so you happily walk and take the bus and hope N. will pick you both up and drive you around town. Today, though, what I really needed was to get back on the bike. I didn’t get a chance to ride around until the evening, when I hopped on the bike and headed down to Mount Vernon for a meeting. In a shocking turn of events, especially for a Monday, the meeting ran short, so I had plenty of time to ride around town. I headed down to the main post office because I’ve never been inside that behemoth of Brutalist architecture, plus also I wanted to put a letter in the mail. Continue reading
Fallsway
Looking Up at the Side of Baltimore Central Booking and Intake Center at Fallsway & Madison
Monday’s ride took me down the hill–big surprise–and around the Inner Harbor, where I got to use the best of my outside voice to remind pedestrians and Segway drivers (riders?) to Share the Path. I complain a lot about the lack of easy bicycling around the harbor, but I recently tried walking it. The pedestrians are right–the shared path is the only good way around the construction in front of the World Trade Center, and once on a path, hardly anybody gets off it to follow a different one, even once the obstacles are gone. An easy pedal up to Federal Hill for some work with the co-workers, and then I headed home, same outside-voice around the harbor, a left on President to enjoy the worst bike lane in the city on my way to the best one–the Fallsway cycletrack. Continue reading
Homage to Harriet Exhibit at the Lewis Museum at Pratt & President
Today’s ride took me down the hill for waffles and bacon with my grading and then down and over to Little Italy for a trip to the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History and Culture (can y’all put in a bike rack, please?) to check out their new exhibit on art inspired by Harriet Tubman. Tubman was from Maryland, and it was in Maryland that she was held in slavery, beaten, abused, but like it does with Frederick Douglass, Maryland claims her proudly, as if the state had the right to brag about her 150 years on after what they’ve done, as if honor is the same as reparations. But this exhibit wasn’t about that. Continue reading
View Across the Harbor at Canton Waterfront Park
I finally had time today for a slightly longer ride, and oh it felt good to be on the Surly, clipped in, and just pedaling. I headed down the hill, took a left, and zipped through Fells Point and over to Canton for a swim, and it all just felt like the right kind of home. I stopped on my way back to snap this picture at Canton Waterfront Park. It’s a familiar view at this point, the naval ships and industrial parks and rising condos and all the ugliness behind those things, but today it was all water and sky and Baltimore just felt beautiful. I made a quick stop for eggs and toast before snaking my way to Gough Street and the ride to Little Italy, back through Jonestown and up the Fallsway to home. Oh yes, that’s better.
A Sign Blown Down at Guilford & Mount Royal
I’ve been off the bike and in the car for the past few days, on a little research foray in Virginia, E. in tow. It was all fun and games and history–Mt. Vernon, Jamestown, Colonial Williamsburg, the Museum of the Confederacy, the White House of the Confederacy, Tredeger Iron Works, and the American Civil War Center (phew!)–until yesterday, when the car wouldn’t start. Ugh. Long story short, I ended up having to leave the thing at the mechanic’s in Mechanicsville, VA and rent a car to drive us home. Next weekend, I will hopefully get to go back there and pick up the car and bring it back here, leaving a good chunk of my wallet there. Ugh. Continue reading
Poinsettias at the Whole Foods on Fleet at Harbor East
I have been away at another conference, this time in San Juan, Puerto Rico where it was warm and humid–easy weather for dressing this girl who is still stocked for living in New Orleans. I had a good trip seeing friends and colleagues, thinking and talking about new ideas, staring at the ocean and swimming in it, and maybe gambling some pennies away, but oh boy, was I happy to come home to Baltimore. Continue reading
Blue Skies and Houses East of Fallsway Before Chase
I’m a bit under the weather, but I had a long-standing lunch date down in the Inner Harbor. What was I going to do–drive there? Nah. I layered up and headed out the door for a zippy race down empty streets, Maryland Avenue through Mt. Vernon and the Westside and over to the giant Hilton. As always, as soon as I was on my bike I was glad I was. Continue reading
Blue Skies and Blight at Fallsway & Chase
Tuesday was another busy day for me, so I didn’t have time for a long bike ride. In fact, I didn’t feel like I had time for a bike ride at all. But I wanted to sneak in a trip to the gym, and I’m certainly not going to drive a car three piddly miles, so I hopped on the bike and sped down the hill for a quick turn and a ride back up the hill. I know I’ve been on about the weather shift for awhile, but the skies are really incredible. Continue reading
A Back Seat on the Sidewalk at Fallsway & E. Fayette
Last night I walked down to North Avenue to meet S. for a night of ten minute plays. I left before 8:00pm, but it was already dark out–a sure sign that fall is in the air. You wouldn’t know it from the weather, though. Today it was hot and muggy, unpleasantly so, but it felt a little better to be on the bike and flying down the hill (thought the flying was slowed by the wind). Continue reading
Aloha at Scores on Fallsway & Terminal Alley
I spend a lot of time riding up and down Fallsway. It’s like St. Charles in New Orleans–I know every bump and crack and bus stop and crosswalk likely to be overrun by cars unwilling to stop before pulling through to make their rights on red. The blocks change quickly here, and I always wonder how the tourists who booked their hotels in “Harbor East” feel when they see they are sharing their neighborhood with a literal prison industrial complex, a police garage, the biggest post office ever, and a number of homeless services centers; something tells me that part isn’t making it into the ads. Cities never represent themselves in any complexity, because that doesn’t pay. Continue reading
What I Saw Riding My Bike Around Today 