July 2007 Trip: NC to NY (Baltimore and NY)

We left home in Sneads Ferry, NC at 6 am. We arrived in the Arlington/Alexandria, VA area by 3 pm. We use to live here  a few years ago when my husband worked at the Pentagon so we went to some of our favorite places. First we stopped in Pentagaon City and ate at Chevy's. Then went inside the Borders Bookstore there. Next we walked accross the street to the Fashion City mall. After that we drove into DC. At night the city is very easy to drive around. It was about 7 pm by that time and the museums were closed. We did get to show the boys The Capital and Washington Monument. We just parked the van out front and snapped photos, pretty funny way of quick touring. The white house isn't as accesible as it was when we lived there in 1999. We caught a quick glimps of it from a road East of it but you can't drive up close to it anymore.

Then we drove to our hotel in White Marsh, MD. It's just North of Baltimore. We stayed at the Hampton Inn. The hotel is nice. Had some dislikes though. The bathroom sink was 'tiny' not big enough for sure to wash the baby bottles we had. It was too small for even standard use. The linens were scratchy as was the blankets. The bed too firm for my taste, and was actually uncomforatable enough not to sleep well. The hotel itself wasn't too bad though. I haven't seen the inside of the nieghboring hotel Hilton Garden Inn but I think I'll give it a try next time... both are on the same grounds and are with the Hilton Family. Bally's is right next door and you get free passes. The hotel pool even had a lifegaurd. You're litterally walking distance to the entertainment district that has tons of nice restaurants, shops and a theatre. It's a great location! The mall is right there too.