We woke up at 4:30 this morning and were out the door about 5:00 AM on our way to visit Towson University just outside Baltimore.
On the way, Rochelle and I listened to ‘Science Friday’ podcasts while Jake listened to music on his earbuds and slept almost the entire way.
Once there, we checked in and marveled at the hundreds of people they seemed to have working this open house. They had drinks and muffins and tiny donuts which were a welcome treat after a 3-hour drive.
With muffins and drinks in hand, they ushered everyone into the main room which must have seated nearly 400 visitors. They gave their spiel, which was similar to others we’d seen at other colleges, but these guys definitely had their stuff together. Everything was very professional and well done. At one point, they called the name of about 10 kids who were there and they stood up in the audience. They surprised them to let them know right there that they were accepted. One girl was so happy she was jumping up and down and as she let out a little shriek when she heard the news. We thought all that was pretty cool.
From there, we went downstairs for another information session and then we were off for a tour of the campus.
Overall, we all thought Towson was great and so it was immediately included in Jake’s current ‘Big Six’ — his six colleges of interest, which includes East Stroudsburg University, Montclair, West Virginia, Brockport, Cortland, and Towson.
Next on our original agenda was a visit to the University of Delaware, but we decided to divert from that, opting instead to head into Baltimore to do a little exploring. It was only a 15-minute drive to the seaport there. It was a neat area which was reminiscent of most touristy areas in coastal cities. There was a big boat — like a ship from the 1800s, a Ripley’s Believe it or Not, a Bubba Gump’s Shrimp eatery, and a Pizzeria Uno, which, though not exactly iconic of Baltimore, was still pretty tasty.
While we were eating, we called Jordan who was in Miami with his Camp Weequahic friend, Zack Babil. Jordan flew there last night and today he said he was headed out to the golf course around 2:00 PM and in the meantime, they were hanging out in the near-90-degree weather.
All along the way, we were also texting Jordan and occasionally sending him a photo or two.
After lunch, we searched and found a nearby Starbucks in a mall across the street. When we got there, we discovered that they had just set up tons of Christmas Decorations, and though it is crazy early for such things, it was also quite awesome and fun. And besides, Rochelle sent me a study that shows that people who put up Christmas decorations earlier are happier — well, duh!
Rochelle chatted with the decorator while I took some photos. We then went upstairs to the Starbucks, where our true mission was not to get coffee (Though I grabbed a Venti Pike Place while Jake got a White Chocolate Mocha), it was to obtain a Baltimore mug to go with our collection of Starbucks “Been there” mugs. And though they didn’t have a ‘Baltimore’ mug, they did have a ‘Maryland’ mug, which was even better because Jordan had also been to Maryland.
After all that, we went back to our car, stopping off at the Visitor Center where we saw one of Babe Ruth’s bats on display. We also talked to a volunteer who lamented how hard and frustrating it was to put together a toy train track only to watch the next little kid come along and completely dismantle it in a matter of seconds. He was hilarious.
So, our next destination was the University of Delaware. We didn’t have a scheduled tour there, but we were going to get a look around to get a feel for it. Once we got there, we noticed that it was very spread out. Worse, the residence halls were all spread out, which, like West Virginia University, detracted from the sense of the ‘centralized campus’ experience that Jake was looking for. So it did not make the ‘Big Six’ for Jake.
Our next original agenda item (it was a very aggressive agenda) was to stop off at Seton Hall on the way home, but because the sun sets so early in the day this time of year, we knew it was already going to be dark by the time we would arrive there, so we went straight home.
As we were approaching Manhattan, I noticed the GPS was taking us to the Lincoln Tunnel, which is nearly never a good idea. So I opted to go to the George Washington Bridge. I thought I was so smart, but we ran almost immediately into awful traffic. Ugh! That said, I still think it’s the correct decisions 9 out of 10 times.
Back home, Rochelle and discovered that I left a couple of lights on and also some music playing on the Alexa for Harry since we were leaving him alone all day. They thought that was very sweet.
We showered and Rochelle watched the episode of Bates Motel that she had fallen asleep to last night. Rochelle also put another coating of Tung Oil on the dining table as her refinishing project continued.
To round out the night, we called Jordan and watched a couple episodes of Bates Motel.
And then we were off to bed.
Happy, healthy, infinite love and gratitude!