MORE Maryland Flooding

And the rain just keeps on coming.  And coming.

Over the weekend, husband got to clean out the gutters during the pouring rain.

We even got to bail out the basement steps for a while Sunday afternoon.  The basement steps were flooding because the drain wasn't working.

On the plus side, our reservoirs are now full.

On the minus side, there are a lot of flooded basements, destroyed businesses, and broken dreams.

In the meantime, here are some pictures from last weekend.

Downtown Sykesville

That same stretch of road, the very next day.  Images from Just in Weather.

Hippodrome

We went to the Hippodrome in Baltimore over the weekend to see A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder.  

The Hippodrome itself is a fascinating piece of architecture.  Originally built in 1914 as a movie palace that also showcased Vaudeville Performances, the Hippodrome attracted some of the "biggest" of the big name Vaudeville actors.  

The Hippodrome eventually closed its doors in 1990.  At that time, it was the last operating movie house in the city of Baltimore.  In 2004, the newly renovated Hippodrome was re-opened.  This masterpiece combined three previously existing, historic buildings into one major showpiece.  These buildings were: The Western National Bank, The Eutaw Savings Bank, and the Hippodrome.  A new building was built on the corner of Eutaw and Baltimore streets to tie the buildings together.

The Hippodrome is now a cultural icon in the city that attracts major performers and touring Broadway shows.  (Note - Mike Rowe recently gave a talk here.  A talk in which he introduced his Mom, and the audience began chanting "Old Blue, Old Blue, Old Blue"!  

(Source: France-Merrick Performing Arts Center)

Below, you can find a few pictures that I took around the building.

Is this not one of the most beautiful spaces?

The second floor hallway, outside theater itself.

As near as I can tell, this area is the new building.  There's a cafe on the first floor.  Do you see that clock tower through the window?  That is the Bromo Seltzer Tower.

Don't you just love this window?

The mural above the stage.

It's a very fuzzy picture, I do apologize, but that is the main stage!

I was told to point these boxes out. During one of the 20th century renovations, these boxes had been torn completely out.  With the 2004 reno, they were added back into the architecture, replicating the original design as much as possible.

The NCR Trail

One of my bucket list goals is to bike/hike as many rail trails as possible, beginning with Maryland.  I've officially started this quest with a hike on the NCR trail North of Baltimore.  We hiked 6 miles along the Torrey C. Brown Rail Trail, which begins North of Baltimore near Hunt Valley.  The trail itself runs along the Gunpowder Falls River.  We began our hike at the trail head, and traveled North.  It was a great way to spend a gorgeous day!

This is near the trail head.  Can't you just picture the train tracks and the steam from the locomotive rising in the distance?  This was one of the few times along the trail when there were no people visible.  This trail was FULL of people - walkers, hikers, bikers, and joggers.  Everyone was out, enjoying the day!

So, this is a Lime Kiln.  According to the sign, a fire was kept burning at the bottom.  Stuff (trees, etc.) was dragged to the top of the wall and dropped down onto the fire.  Lime was made from the ashes. 

Well hey, it's the East Coast Greenway!  I've never heard of it before, although I've walked other trails with this signage.  Curious, I looked it up when I got home and found out more about the Greenway.  It is a developing trail system and will extend from Maine down to Florida.  You can find out more about the Greenway here:  http://www.greenway.org/ .  In a nutshell, the East Coast Greenway is intended to be the more urban counterpart of the Appalachian Trail. I'd like to think that this means there aren't as many hills on the Greenway...

The Gunpowder Falls River.

A lone runner off in the distance.

Check out the date.  1875.  That's the year that the original track bed and this bridge was built.  Okay, at this point in time, this date is only good for the masonry work.  The bed extending over the river has been replaced.  But still - this masonry has been around for over 125 years.  We live in a disposable society now. Do you think anything we build now will still be around in 125 years? 

A little side stream feeding into the river.  Gorgeous, isn't it?  Makes me want to get out and hike some more! 

Easterm Shore of Maryland

One of my goals for this year is to catch up on my scrapbooking.  I am working on 2011 right now.  2011 was a crazy busy year, and we took a break from everything and spent a week on Maryland's Eastern Shore in the Neck District.  I was looking at the pictures today, and I have to share them.  It's such a beautiful place!  Unfortunately, it's been 5 years since we were there, so I don't actually know WHERE some of these pictures were taken other than "Eastern Shore".  Enjoy!