Baltimore

Is it asking too much that there be a reasonably-priced and reasonably-located transportation option between Baltimore and NYC?

I can either take Amtrak for $200 from the easy-to-get-to Baltimore Penn Station, or MegaBus for $40 from the difficult-to-get-to-without-a-car White Marsh Park & Ride. Oh, or I can take Amtrak for $100, but in order to do that I get less than 24 hours with my friends. I have checked Amtrak’s prices to Newark and New Rochelle but they’re the same as going to NYC. EKW suggested trying SEPTA to Trenton, and then NJ Transit into the city, but a train round-trip to Philly at a reasonable hour is $100 (at the moment, at least). So then to add on SEPTA and NJ Transit fares, I’m not sure the savings would be worth the hassle. I have even gone so far as to check one-way car rentals and flights.

I just don’t understand why Amtrak is so expensive. If it weren’t for a couple of other upcoming trips involving flights, hotels and rental cars (split with others, but still), plus the flight home for Christmas which I need to buy soon, I wouldn’t be agonizing about this so much.

Superfuntimes! The weekend was awesome — click through for more photos of the Sox game on Saturday night (yes, the one at which Manny hit his 500th career home run) — and eventually for more photos from the rest of the weekend.

We had a super fun time at Camden Yards, which is just a fantastic place to see a ballgame. I look forward to going back, and I hope that it can be more than once a year — even the cheap seats have good sight lines, and so many Sox fans come that it’s like being at Fenway, except cleaner.

For a while during the day, Kristen and I were afraid that the rain wouldn’t stop, and the game would get delayed and/or postponed. But luckily it stopped, and once Angela and Wendy arrived the four of us headed out to the block party outside the park. We hung out there until everyone else arrived (I had 10 tickets) and then we went in to the game. Unfortunately, things were already underway by the time we got to our seats, but we didn’t miss anything major. (That happened later, when Wendy and I were in line at the concessions when Manny hit #500. We were gone for way longer than we had meant to be, on a silly quest for ice cream in collectible helmets, which Camden Yards doesn’t even have anymore). But aside from being chagrined at missing that (though I tell myself that I had to be in line in order for the universe to be properly aligned for this historic moment to take place) I had a blast. I hope that I can make this outing a yearly event, so all my out-of-town Sox fan friends can come down and take in a game with me.