After having dinner with Dave's brother two nights ago, we drove at night until almost midnight (something we usually avoid) to find a town with a place to stay. To get around the toll on I95 (since when can interstates be tolled?), we took all back roads. Exhausted, we finally found a place to sleep, assuming we had made it to Pennsylvania since we were somewhere near Philly. We spent the entire next day thinking we were in PA, until we saw the address of where we were: Newark, Delaware. Geography isn't my strongest suit, and I had honestly thought Delaware was in New England because it's a small state. Clearly I was wrong. It didn't take us long to fall in love with this unexpected place: Newark, home of the University of Delaware, is fantastic. 

Newark's Main Street is treasure trove of coffee shops, independent stores, and restaurants. It is bustling with people and college students, adorned with University of Delaware gear proclaiming Fear the Bird, referring to their school mascot, the blue hen. This was us in Brewed Awakenings coffee shop yesterday. It's hard to find the perfect coffee shop: good atmosphere, friendly staff, cozy feel, good coffee, the right noise level, and reasonable prices. Brewed Awakenings had it all. One of our favorite coffee shops on the trip so far. Thanks guys! 

One of the reasons we're loving Newark is its ideal combination of rural and city areas. This is exactly the kind of place we eventually want to live: somewhere where we can have land and homestead in a semi-rural area, but somewhere that is also close to a town, preferably a town with a college. That's exactly the definition of Newark. This gorgeous farm was only about a 10 minute drive from Main Street and the college campus. 

Silo to heaven.  

We spent a while this morning driving through the countryside, enjoying the views. We also happened upon an awesome find: an open air auction in the middle of a field. It was our first auction, and going to auctions is something Dave has been really excited about doing recently. It was so cool. If we weren't living on the road right now, there's so much we would have bought: farm equipment, antique doors and shutters, an antique lawnmower, and so much more. 

After our morning drive through the countryside, we took a long walk around the University of Delaware campus. It's really beautiful here. We even managed to find some free food again...fresh fruit and cookies, which nicely complimented our picnic lunch, which we had on this picturesque deep green lawn. 

This guy found the best place on campus to study! 

All the flowering trees this Spring are just stunning. Because we've been paying such close attention to nature, its like we've been watching Spring unfold in slow motion right before our eyes. It's really neat. 

We hit gold at the Salvation Army thrift store near campus. Since we're getting married in September, our goal has been to collect things for the wedding, specifically Dave's clothes, during our travels. We've had our eyes peeled for the perfect pair of vintage shoes, and yesterday, we found them! These gems are very vintage and were only...$4. It makes us absurdly happy to be pulling off this wedding on a budget.  

We decided to go to Baltimore yesterday since we were so close by. Neither of us was sure what to expect---we realized we had poor expectations of the city just because of sports teams rivalries. However, we were pleasantly surprised. I think that's one of the exciting parts of traveling like this...we can break through our pre-conceived notions of places and actually get a feel for cities like Baltimore that we never would have thought of to visit before. 

One thing we immediately noticed about Baltimore was the highest parking rates I have ever seen in my life. One lot advertised "1/2 Hour for $5!" At many lots near the harbor, the going rate was $15 to $25 for 2-3 hours. That's our entire daily budget! So, we set off on a quest to find much cheaper or free parking. We got incredibly lucky in Little Italy. We managed to find a 3 hour parking spot along the street for...free! And it was only a few blocks walk away from the Inner Harbor. It pays to shop around. 

We found doors that make me, the short little Italian, look tall! 

This plaza near the water had some neat shops, buildings, and statues. Looking at all the tall buildings in Baltimore, we realized something fundamentally different about DC. There are no tall buildings in the downtown DC area. We speculate that no buildings are allowed to be taller than the Capital building, which makes sense. Instead, DC buildings sprawl out, turning into long rectangles that go on for blocks, or massive multi-building complexes. Though I still much prefer the countryside to the city, I've realized I like DC as a city because of its uniqueness: its lack of tall buildings, its abundance of green space, and its bustling atmosphere. Compared with DC, Baltimore seemed muffled and subdued. There were far fewer people out walking, jogging, eating, and utilizing public spaces. That's a stark contrast with DC, where the whole city seems to live their lives outside, bustling about, picnicking on the grass, having a bottle of wine under the cherry blooms, and biking and running down every street. DC had a very energetic atmosphere, especially compared to Baltimore, which seemed to be sleeping during our visit. 

Crazy Barnes and Noble with smokestacks. 

This ship is billed "the last survivor of Pearl Harbor." 

This is Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse, which used to sit in only seven feet of water at the mouth of the Patapsco River in the Chesapeake Bay. (Fun fact: the average depth of the Bay is only 20 feet!) It is the oldest surviving screw-pile lighthouse, referring to the construction of the base. The screw-pile design eliminated the need for underwater masonry foundations and allowed the lighthouses to be suspended above the water by a system of cast-iron pilings with corkscrew-like bases, which could be turned into the soft mud of the sea floor. The lighthouse was built only 9 feet above mean high water level! 

View from the lighthouse's deck. 

Thanks Bob for all the great information during our visit! We really enjoyed the lighthouse. Best of luck to you...maybe we'll see you on the Appalachian Trail someday. 

Baltimore's Inner Harbor was really lovely. 

When we were in Washington yesterday, there was a rally taking place for immigration reform. There were so many people---there had to be 100,000 or more. It was just a sea of bodies outside of the Capital building. It actually did make the National news---we read about it in the New York Times today. 

You couldn't help but admire how much effort these people put in to make this rally happen. People had come from all over- Texas, New York, all across the country- to participate. They were bused in because there would not have been enough places to park...we saw the lot full of buses by the Nationals stadium on our way out. After the rally ended, the people walked miles in the 93 degree heat back to the buses to return to their cars and homes. It was extraordinary. And it was so peaceful. It was so neat to see such a massive group of people get together for a common cause, and, whether or not they were even acknowledged by the politicians, to take a stand for what they believe in. 

It was also just neat to have the experience of a real rally in DC and think about all the rallies, marches, and protests that have taken place there over time. In some sort of way, it made us feel like a part of history, a connection to the past. 

We've moved on from Washington and spent today in Baltimore (don't disown me, Steelers fans!). We're stopping in the Chesapeake Bay area tonight to have dinner with Dave's brother, who also happens to be traveling through, and we're going to explore the bay and a state park tomorrow before we continue on towards our next work exchange. Also, there there are a few new items posted on our Etsy- some vintage advertisements from the 1940's. Take a peek! 

We decided to spend a second day in DC to explore more of the city. 

I'm happy we got a more authentic look at the city on the second day. We drove in and out of town on a back route that took us through the city's residential areas, where we got to see streets and streets of great row houses, like these. We also got a chance to eat at We, the Pizza, which seemed to be populated by lots of locals stopping in for a slice after work and relatively free of tourists. 

This great fountain and statues, called The Court of Neptune Fountain, was located outside of the Library of Congress, which was another huge, multi-building complex. The piece was apparently completed in 1898, which is even more mind-blowing when you consider all the toplessness. 

King Neptune himself. 

One thing I really like about DC is all its green space. It's a big difference from New York City, or at least what I remember of it from my last visit. Every corner you turn seems to have a green lawn, trees, or garden. This area, behind and off to the side of the Capitol Building, was an magical discovery. The petals were falling to the ground from these pink magnolia trees creating an amazing soft carpet. 

As always, thanks to Dave for this amazing photography. I think we're going to try to begin selling some prints, maybe in our Etsy store. 

We made a stop in the United States Botanical Gardens, which was a really neat tropical oasis. It reminded us a lot of our neighborhood in Florida with many of the same plants we had growing. We also stopped in the Native American museum for a bit. We had planned to explore more of the Smithsonian museums after discovering they were all free, but we simply ran out of time. There was so much to see! 

We were so fortunate to be able to be here in Washington for the peak of the Cherry Blossoms. We did not plan for this, and in fact never could have planned the timing this perfectly if we had tried. I'm so glad our philosophy of not planning things out too far in advance and just taking opportunities as they arise is working out so well. 

There were so many people out enjoying the trees. 

Baby's first cherry blossoms. 

The Smithsonian Castle looked magical in the descending twilight with blossoms and petals floating down to the ground from the trees. 

It was amazing to be here, under a carpeting of perfect white blossoms. This was the perfect ending to a great day exploring Washington. 

Yesterday, we took the Metro into DC, which was an experience in itself. It cost $9.20 for each of us. We sat for a while, trying to figure out how using the Metro would be cost efficient for residents to use. We assumed public transit would be much cheaper to make it appealing to residents, but after seeing traffic on the roads, it seems the only major upside is how quick and easy it makes it to get into the city. In the end, we came to the conclusion that living in a big city simply offends our sensibility of how much things should cost. In our minds, it shouldn't cost anything to get to where you work, park, etc. However, neither Dave nor I had been to DC before, so it was neat to see our Nation's capital. I'm happy this unexpected detour to this part of the country was able to work out. 

The Capital Building. 

It was great to find this garden oasis in the midst of all the concrete. 

Everything in DC is on a massive scale. I believe this was one of the Smithsonian buildings. I had no idea the Smithsonian was made up of multiple buildings, or that they all had free admission! It seems like you could spend a week wandering around the museums and still not see everything. 

Outside of the Native American museum. 

National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden. 

The Washington Monument. Unfortunately, you couldn't get near it due to construction, but it still looked really neat, especially here, with the sun setting.