I went to Maryland!

So…..I finally met C’s family! I am a little late on this, but C and I went to Maryland  in early September for about a week.  We had a great time!

I was really nervous about finally meeting his family.  Not only does he have 4 very close siblings, he has 60+ cousins and most of them are close as well!  Talk about overwhelming!

We arrived in Baltimore late afternoon and set to driving about two hours south to the very tip of Maryland.  I was in love with the state already.  Maryland has so many trees….it’s gorgeous.  I am kind of obsessed with trees, I think it’s because there aren’t very many here in Arizona!

By the time we finally got to C’s brothers house (where we were staying) it was dark.  The family was all sitting around on the back porch while one of his brothers manned the BBQ.  Talk about intimidating! Everyone was so excited to see us though (ok well mostly just him I’m sure) and all had plenty to say.  I was really tired from traveling (we had gotten up 15 hours earlier) but we stayed up talking for a couple more hours.

The next day C and I set to exploring.  He took me down to a place called Point Lookout, which is at the very tip of Maryland. Doesn’t it sound like some sort of cool teenage make-out spot? From this little state park area, you can actually see  Virgina, which I thought was really cool.  There were even beaches, though not like any I had ever seen. There were on the edge of a forest, so there were pine cones in the sand! So odd.

We went to a few of his cousins houses and visited with them and then he took me took Buffalo Wild Wings. You guys, I am so addicted to this place.  I HAVE to go every Thursday (60 cent wings, what what!).  C know that so even though we were in another state he let me have my fix. So awesome.

That night (very very late night) my brother arrived!  He drove all the way from upstate New York that afternoon and arrived around1am.   He was supposed to get there way earlier that day, but the darn movers were running a few hours late.

The next day we did some more exploring and…..we went crabbing!  Oh my goodness it was so much fun!  Have you guys ever gone crabbing? Basically, you tie a piece of raw chicken (chicken necks are best, we used breast) onto the end of a basic piece of string.  Obviously, I let C do that part.  Then you put the chicken in the water and tie it to the dock or somewhere sturdy.  Every once in a while you tug gently on the string and if you have a crab, you can kind of feel it. Other times, you can actually see the string “walking away” in the water! Then you very slowly start to pull the string out of the water. Those little buggers are quite greedy so they hang on to the chicken, even though they are clearly moving towards the surface.  When you can see the crab just below the surface you take a fishing net and scoop the crab and chicken out of the water.  You have to be really fast though, crab can swim at lightning speed!

Of course, it’s a great idea to bring beer with you while you are crabbing as well :)

I loved crabbing so much that I made C take me 3 days in a row! Obsessed much?? I think I just liked the fun of wondering if there was a crab on the line and then having the skills to catch it before it swam away!

Midnight crabbing :)

Now…eating the crab?  That’s another story! We got home the first night and C set to boiling the few that we had caught.  After they were properly steamed and seasoned, he taught my brother and I how to eat them.  Pull off the outer shell, scoop out the guts with your finger, pluck out the heart, peel off the lungs, eat. Can you guess which step I stopped at?

I still don’t know what a Maryland blue crab tastes like and I’m guessing that I never will!

One of the days C’s “best friend” came over.  Now, I had heard C mention his name once or twice, but he never mentioned they were that close. I quickly found out that the kid was kind of obsessed with C.  His family even joked about it.  Anywho, within 5 minutes of meeting him he was showing C and I pictures of a house he was redoing. As he’s sliding through his photos he passed several, um, inappropriate pictures that he had taken of his man bits. Um? So incredibly awkward.  Nice to meet you, here’s my man parts. I couldn’t look him in the eye the rest of the trip!

Unfortunately we did attend a funeral while we were there, but it made it a lot easier to see everyone that he wanted to see.  I was definitely not prepared for it to last as long as it did though….I guess I should have known better! Even though we were 15 minutes early, the church was already full. We ended up standing along the wall at the front of the church for 2 hours. Not my favorite.  Then the burial and banquet after lasted another 3 hours. At least that we know of, we didn’t stay. It was nice to get an opportunity to visit C’s mothers grave though, since it was at the same cemetery.  I really wish I could have met her, I just know she was an amazing woman.

Oh yeah, you guys, there isn’t a single Starbucks in his town!  The closest one was 20 minutes away.  Now, usually I don’t do Starbucks a ton, but on vacation I treat myself.  I usually go every day.  I was so bummed to not get a single Starbucks the entire 7 days I was gone! One day I tried some place called Donut Connection, but alas, it was not the same!

Well now that I’ve totally given myself a craving for Starbucks, I best go get one!  I mean….I did miss out on it for a full seven days. One day won’t hurt right?

Next time I will tell you about our last day there!