Ciclovia - Halloween bike ride

Ciclovia 2010 - The cyclist are in the distance

This is my first year taking part in a special Halloween bike ride event of Baltimore called Ciclovia, which is Spanish for bike lane. The road was closed to cars and motorist opened it to cyclist and walkers.  My family walked with the dog and watched as others biked around freely on the road.  I took some pictures along the way. It was nice to get out of the house, and see that others do the same.

Aren't the colorful leaves amazing?!

It is all so great to see that the colors of the leaves change now that it is autumn.  My favorite part of autumn is the leaves. Even though I am no longer a kid I still I like raking them up and jumping in the pile. (Of course I make sure that there are no sticks to poke me.)  I haven't done that yet but I will once more leaves fall from the trees. What is your favorite part of the season?

Join in the fun! Meet Me Outdoors.

Patterson Park Pagoda

I know it has been a few weeks since I last posted, but I have been going outside and exploring the great outdoor adventures that Baltimore has to offer.  One of them is seen on the right. The Patterson Park Pagoda. Great alliteration, right?

Anyway, I saw Patterson Park on the map and as I am still new to this part of Baltimore I asked my aunt if she'd take me to see the park.  We were only able to walk around part of the park since it was so big.  The Pagoda had actually been something that she wanted to see at the park and go to the top of but has never had the chance to because it was usually closed when she was there.  Since it was a Sunday, and not yet the end of October, it was open to visitors we took turns going up (we had brought her dog with us for a walk around the park but dogs are not allowed to go in the Pagoda).  I went up first, and for those who don't know me I am actually a tiny bit afraid of heights, so I only made it to the first level up and didn't want to stay there long.  It was a great view but I was not ready to climb to the top for the full city view so I came down and let my aunt take her turn. She went all the way to the top, and had me take a picture of her there with her camera phone.  Unfortunately, my aunt didn't stay in one place when I switched to my camera phone so she isn't in the picture you see with this post.

Patterson Park has stuff to do for the whole family. Has lots of green space to explore and play, places like the Pagoda overlook the park, athletic fields, community gardening space, nice paths to walk/run/stroll, and in the summer there is a pool while in the winter the ice rink opens.  I know that I will have to go back many times to see all that there is to see. So come along, Meet Me Outdoors.

"Welcome to Baltimore"

No two harbors are alike.  There may be similarities, like features, but each have a special uniqueness that separate them from the rest.  For example, while the Boston Harbor has the USS Constitution the Baltimore Inner Harbor has the USS Constellation.  Both are historic tall sail ships, both are open to the public to take a tour of the ships, (see the "Visit Us" section on their corresponding websites) and both have great a history, yet I have only witnessed one of them have some guy in period uniform load and fire a cannon over the water (no cannon ball, just loud bang). 

That's right, I was sitting outside overlooking the harbor admiring the view, when BANG out of no where the cannon was fired, gun-smoke coming from a cannon sitting on the top deck of the USS Constellation.  I watched as the man reloaded the cannon and waited, half expecting a second round to be fired, but nothing came. He just stood watch waiting, in the chill of the afternoon by the cannon.  All I could think after that was, "Welcome to Baltimore."

Time for you to come along and join in on a new adventure. Meet Me Outdoors.