I invited myself to spend the weekend with Lee and Sharon to celebrate my birthday.

This trip was all put together about 10 days out.

Lee recommended staying in White Marsh, a suburb of Baltimore and about 10 minutes from their marina. I found a reasonable deal at a Hilton Garden Inn.

My car has about 11 months of warranty left but only about 4,000 miles so I decided to rent. I found a decent deal for a Cadillac at an Avis about a half mile from me so made the reservation. They didn't open until 8 AM and I needed to get the car, get packed, and be on the other side of Columbus for a 9 Am appointment. I stopped a few daya ahead of time to explain my situation. Bad new was, unlikely I'd get the Caddy, they'd most all been returned waiting for new ones. They showed me a Town Car they happened to have their explaining that they were really nice. This one was, it wasn't a base model. Had a sunroof, upgraded stereo, etc. I've never been a Ford fan but this seemed OK. Other bad news, their cars come from the airport and if they have a luxury car going out, it usually doesn't get there until that morning and they have to clean it there. In case you can't tell yet, the car part's kind of important to me.

I decided to take a chance since the rate was decent. Good news, the car was there at 5 till 8 when I got there. It was clean enough to take as it was. Bad news, this was about as base a Lincoln as you could get. No sunroof, sucky stereo, and.......I'm still not a Ford guy!

I looked at Mapquest as well as directions from the hotel and they both gave directions that surprised me. I decided to pretty much go with them. I looked at a map and it appeared the freeway was taking me 25-30 miles out of the way. I decided to take a 'shortcut' across Route 40, the Old National Highway. Yep, it saved me about 30 miles. It also added at least 40-45 minutes to the trip. We did see some nice scenery that way. Also found a neat little greasy spoon we decided to grab a quick lunch at. Of the four ladies working there, I think the youngest was 80! We were back on the road about an hour later, not what I'd call a quick lunch.

Got to the motel Friday night 6. Checked in and headed to Lee & Sharon's marina. Great hosts they are, there was a bottle of single-malt scotch waiting for me. We had a nice visit on the boat then went to dinner and had the best crab cakes I've ever had. My biggest accomplishment was, I got the check. I about broke the waitresses finger but I beat Lee.

I was tired from the drive so we dropped them off and headed back to the motel and an air conditioner that sounded like an alarm clock going off. I called the front desk and they said they'd send someone up. About 30 minute later, the a/c had cycled off and back on again with the noise gone. I called down and told them I was going to bed. Was woken up in the middle of the night to the a/c 'alarm' so I just shut it off.

Saturday, IT'S MY BIRTHDAY Slept in a bit then headed to the boat. We visited on the boat for a while and met several of Lee & Sharon's friends. We drove to a bay side restaurant for lunch. I think I made the best choice, a Ceasar salad with blackened salmon, blackened shrimp and a crab cake. Then it was back to the marina for a relaxing afternoon at the pool.

Finally cocktail hour and I had a date with a Glenlevit, or two, or.....well, never mind. We really enjoyed relaxing on the boat and meeting other people on the dock.

Dinner was at a little bar with GREAT T-bone steaks. You notice I haven't been able to brag about grabbing any more dinner checks. After dinner we went to a little local bar for karaoke. Patti played some machine while I sang and danced with the little old ladies from the marina.

We closed the bar at 2 AM, dropped Lee & Sharon off and went back to the room and a quiet air conditioner. I later heard we missed the party on the dock that went until 4:30.

We left the motel at Noon and got home in 7 hours, much better than the 8 1/2 it took to get there. Drove thru one of the worst rain storms I ever remember driving in.

If ya ever want to know what hospitality is, go visit Lee & Sharon. Thanks guys!

I put 968 miles on the Lincoln and I'm still not a Ford guy.

This sounds like quite a birthday celebration .. wish I could have been there for the crab cakes and karaoke. Ya know I wouldn't touch the Glenlivit.

You'd have had a blast. The crab cakes were awesome! Sorry, there wasn't enough scotch to share. Sharon found the bottle, head down in the liquer cabinet before we left for dinner Saturday night!

Jeff,
You know you don't have to wait till your birthday to visit us down at the Marina. Daisy, or anyone of our friends are welcome to join us. We love the company.
Jeff, I'm sorry the boat wasn't running. I guess you'll have to look to your sail boat friends if you want to get out on the water. LOL
I'm glad you had a good time, I was worried when the boat didn't run. But it wasn't worth ruining an engine.
That's a long ride in a car you didn't like!
So I guess it's our turn for a trip to Columbus? Or are you coming down this weekend again???? We eat good down here! LOL
BTW, you might be in the dog house with Sharon....LOL

Caesar salad with Blackened salmon, blackened shrimp, and a crab cake - sounds like my kind of meal!! Happy Belated Birthday, Senator!

Thanks Mike.

Lee,

The name slip up? I'm pretty sure I apoligized as soon as I said it. I can certainly apologize again.

Or did it have something to do with taking my pants off? LOL