If you read my Choose Your Own Adventure post, you will know I took a little trip to the East Coast about a week ago. My main motive was to present at an academic conference in a tiny town in Western Maryland. Since the trip was inconveniently located and very expensive {i.e. flights over $500, renting a car for the two hour drive to the university hosting the conference, sleeping in a dorm room on a horrible mattress at 26 weeks pregnant}, I decided I should rearrange my travel plans to make my flight to Maryland worth my time and money. And for me quality time with friends is what makes any trip worthwhile…
I decided to skip the first few days of the conference {to eliminate paying money to sleep in a dorm} and I stayed in Baltimore with my best friend’s little sister for the first night of the trip. I had never been to Maryland before, so it was fun to see a new city with Elise as my personal guide…
Hello rainy day tour of Baltimore
Hello cute little row houses in the city. It’s crazy how different the East Coast looks from other areas in the country.
Hello little Edgar Allen Poe restaurant and the best mashed potatoes I’ve ever had in in my life!
Hello sweet Elise! Thanks for being my Baltimore hostess and travel guide.
The next morning I picked up my rental car and headed west to Frostburg State University for the conference. I was so utterly exhausted that I could barely stay awake for the 2ish hour drive. I finally had to stop at Chick-Fil-A for a chicken biscuit to perk me up. When I arrived, Frostburg was tiny and rural, just as I expected. I cannot imagine ever living there, even for college. I went to hear a keynote speaker when I arrived, met my roommate for the night, and then went out to dinner and dessert with Tracey, a classmate from ASU. I presented the next morning and then I seriously got out of that tiny backwoods town as quickly as I could. Tracey drove back to Baltimore with me, and she said pregnant women must have lead feet because I made it back in record time. I just really didn’t like Frostburg and wanted to be out of Maryland and on to the next stop of my trip as quickly as possible. If I had known when I boarded my next flight in Baltimore that I would be spending the night in New Jersey, maybe I wouldn’t have been quite so anxious to make it to airport…
Hello Frostburg, Maryland. You truly are in the middle of nowhere.
Hello dressing the bump up for my last academic conference before the baby arrives.
Hello small town ice cream stand.
Hello dorm bed… not the most comfortable accommodations when six months pregnant, but I survived.
I’ll be back with my more of my adventure this week! The best part of the trip is yet to come…
