All the major literary awards were announced today, including the Printz, Caldecott, and Newbery, and I was there! I was there, too, when the selection committees went through the publisher booths and put the official award stickers on all the winners, to lots of cheering. It was pretty great.
Today was the best day of the trip. And the most expensive, because I was set loose in the city as soon as the conference ended at noon, and went into full tourist mode. Walked up to Blick to buy paint and brushes, then hopped a bus and rode down to Fells Point to visit Kilwins, where I bought overpriced chocolates and fudge for the kids. I had a mission to find the statue of Frederick Douglass for my painting project, so I walked down to the harbor and wandered around until I found him under a tree. Really nice sculpture. Really weird how all the streets were completely empty. To be fair, January probably isn’t tourist season in Baltimore.
I decided to eat early so I could catch the bus back before it got dark, and walked into Harbor Tandoor 10 minutes before their lunch special ended. The server recommended butter chicken and momo with fresh naan, and so that is what I ordered. It was AMAZING. Truly special. And half the price of that stupid wet crab cake.
I packed up what I couldn’t finish for breakfast, left a good tip, and caught the bus to the Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture.
I only had an hour before it closed, so I gave it a quicker tour than it deserved, but I still learned a lot. The artifacts were chilling, the art and education was inspiring, and they played “Black Moses Barbie”, which made me laugh.
I bought some shirts for work in the museum gift shop, because I’ve decided to make myself more of a problem for our book banning moms.
It was only a mile back to the hotel along the harbor, so I walked the rest of the way. My watch clocked 87 exercise minutes and 6.5 miles of walking today. I’m going to have buns like cantaloupes when I fly home tomorrow. Layover in Colorado this time, which is another first for me, and then straight home to plump up in the humidity like a raisin in hot water. Looking forward to it.
Why have I never even heard of Black Moses Barbie? Thank you for enlightening me.
ReplyDeleteSounds like this conference trip was WAY more successful than the one to Chattanooga. The statue of Frederick Douglass is pretty stunning. Safe travels and oh- by the way- you will completely dehydrate during your layover in Colorado. You will be Holly jerky. Hawaii will take care of that, though.