Could this B’More AWESOME?!

Only 44 miles separated us from Baltimore as we snapped into our pedals and took off from DC.

We first biked to Nationals Park to get a team pic and hide a travel book from Adam’s friend Emily. She lent the book to us as we perused around DC but we were unable to meet up with her again. She offered the idea of

“Hide the book somewhere so I could find it at my own convenience.”

I’d never heard or thought of this idea but really liked it. We took our pic in front of the Nationals Park and hid the book near the stadium in a SUPER SECRET location.

Feeling proud of our book-hiding skills, we were met with a mix of less-traveled roads and well-traveled roads. When we were on a busy road it was never for long, but it was always without a shoulder. It was nice that we wouldn’t have to spend too much time on these.

We met up with the first of four trails in 44 miles to Baltimore, the Anacostia Trail. The trail was tucked away from the urban sprawl between DC and B’More and snaked through pretty views and parks for several miles.

One of my favorite parts of the trail was the pretty area that coincided with blue lines on the pavement. It was like the yellow brick road, except the spotted blue-lined road. Everything became very picturesque during blue-line riding.

And this photo makes me think of what my Grandma and Grandpa probably looked like as they enjoyed each other’s company during easier times.

Eventually the trail dumped us on a more NE-facing route called the College Park Trolley Trail. Well, this was exciting because Chase and Adam are big college basketball fans and know what College Park means… home of the Maryland Terrapins!

We happened to be right around our lunch time as we neared the campus and decided to enjoy it next to their stadium. We rode around campus a bit and right up to their football, basketball and baseball stadiums. The trifecta!

After tweeting our new location to Maryland alum Scott Van Pelt, we jumped back on the College Park Trolley Trail and its paved path ways.

Our whole day was filled with paved paths actually. Our trails led us through the BWI airport AND the BWI trail. Believe it or not, those acronyms stand for the same thing.
The Baltimore-Washington DC International airport and trail.

A wonky and curvy trail through an airport was better than biking through the tarmacs, but it was still biking through an airport.

Nearing Baltimore we thought we would have some trouble biking through the city and up to the stadium. Not the case at all. We rode up to the edge of Baltimore, right when it started to get a bit dicey for a road bike, and intersected with the Gwynns Fall Trail. This trail meandered us around the traffic and very close to the Patapsco River.

Looking out over the river and enjoying the trail, we were interrupted by a series of loud MEOWS and ~10 stray cats lounging in the middle of the bike path. As they noticed that we were not another cat and that we just might run them over… they darted off into the neighboring brush on the side of the path. The Catman posed no threat to us this encounter.

The cat-surprise only lasted a minute and then, before we knew it… we were riding up to Camden Yards! 

We had made it to our 25th stadium of the summer! And sheez was this a pretty one. We couldn’t wait to catch TWO games at Camden Yards.