Labor Day Weekend 2009 - Part 2

Morning dawned on Friday, 9/4 - beautiful! No need for A/C - in September. SEPTEMBER! No swarms of mosquitoes, a wonderful breeze blowing through the window...it was surreal. Matt had to go to class at 9, so I took my time showering and putting on the make-up...essentially being girly to pass the time. I think he got home around 10:30 or so, and we ventured back to Ellicott City for breakfast. We stopped at this really cute, bakery/cafe called Sarah & Desmond's (http://www.sarah-desmonds.com/). They had all sorts of pastries, coffees, smoothies, teas, homemade breads...and I was surprised that it wasn't pricey. I noticed that the coffee shops and cafes in the area were much more common than what I'm used to seeing and very popular and affordable. I enjoyed the atmosphere and people - everyone was relaxed, coming in from walking or biking to joining for breakfast or meeting friends. It had a very neighborly feel and was also very dog friendly just like every other place in the area that I'd noticed. We had bagels for breakfast, and I enjoyed a wonderful cup of 'Hippie Blend' coffee - which I got several times over the course of the weekend. Very yummy!! I should have taken some pics, but I distract easily :)

We spent most of the day driving around and just looking at the area - old neighborhoods, houses, and several of the state parks in the area. In SEPTEMBER, with the windows down and no A/C!!!! I don't think I can stress that enough - still shocked! The deer were also out in mid-day SEPTEMBER, which I found fascinating. We sat on the side of the road in one of the parks - I think it was Patapsco - just watching them. I think we counted four adults and two fawns. At least one was a young male with short spikes; he kept his distance. We could tell the females watched him for orders though as we got closer. They didn't seem to mind our presence though. I was able to take several pictures (some, you'll see, I forgot to turn the flash off) before they decided we were no longer welcome in their presence, and they hopped away.

Friday night we joined some of Matt's friends from the aviation program at CCBC, Dave & Jessie & Jessie's boyfriend (can't remember his name) at Illusions Magic Bar & Lounge (http://www.illusionsmagicbar.com/) in downtown Baltimore. It was apparently voted one of the top 9 bars by CNN Travel - something they mentioned during the show and are quite proud of, which considering how many bars there are in the country does seem to be a huge accomplishment. At 10 pm on Wednesday-Saturday evenings, Spencer Horsman performs a show behind the bar - card tricks and his finale of hanging upside down from the ceiling while attempting to escape from a straight jacket. I, of course, was pulled up on stage by Spencer's dad who owns the bar and was a former circus clown to assist in one of the tricks. In this 'illusion', Spencer had me blindfold him and used a sword to try and determine the cards selected by other audience members. We mixed the cards up all over the table, some of them falling on the floor, and he still found a way to get the cards. I tried to figure it out while up on stage, but noticed that there were various stab marks all over the table, so in the end, I gave up the urge to figure it out and succumbed to the entertainment of it all. It was a great night - definitely something I wouldn't have thought to do as a 'tourist'. The benefits of spending time with locals :) I noticed later that a lot of people had videoed and taken pictures during the show, so I was disappointed that I hadn't done the same, but I thought it might be a little tasteless and kind of rude to do so during a live performance in such close proximity to the performer. I did, however, find someone else's video on YouTube, so I'm embedding it here.

Kuddos to he who took the video :) It's hard to tell in the video, and in this one Spencer's hair looks like it's a different color, but Spencer reminds me of a young version of the actor who played Carlisle Cullen in Twilight - as Carlisle Cullen with the platinum hair and the fair white skin. Matt said he looked like a cross between Macaulay Culkin and Jonathan Taylor Thomas. (I gave him Macaulay Culkin - could never see the JTT resemblance. You can decide for yourself - I found his facebook page; debating on if I should 'friend' him - http://www.facebook.com/SpencerHorsman). Anyway, I was impressed by the performance, but also at the abdominal strength Spencer had to have to perform the trick with all the movement - you'll notice that in the video! Leave it to me to be more impressed by his unseen abs than by the straight jacket - but I found that just phenominal!

Anyway, it was a nice evening and fun to meet some more of Matt's new friends - I'm sure they'll be getting to know each other a lot as the start down the road of aviation together. Definitely an evening to remember!