Servin’ up some crab cakes and one Panera ad for seafood in this post…let’s head east!

When we were on our way to Amanda and Ryan’s town for their engagement session, we weren’t entirely sure of what to expect.  We’d been to Annapolis earlier this year, but Baltimore seemed to have a totally different vibe surrounding it.  It seemed tougher, and Amanda couldn’t get “Good Morning Baltimore” out of her head for three straight days. 😉 

When we got to our Airbnb, we were charmed by the facade of the townhouses that lined the streets.  People didn’t seem to need a lot of space, and the space they had was adorable.  Our lodging was tucked under one of the townhomes in a very well thought out basement.  Hands down, the best basement room we’ve stayed in!

We spent our first evening scouting for Amanda & Ryan’s engagement shoot (with a fair amount of bug bites and humidity).  We walked along the harbor and were able to enjoy the weather and the view along with people walking their dogs and a TON of runners! 

After we decided we had a solid plan, we went to dinner at a place called Barcocina.  It was SO tasty; we wish they had one in Ohio!  We ate al fresco, watched people walk their dogs, and looked out over the water (Matt loved the dogs, Amanda loved the water).  It was a great way to end our first evening! 

The next morning was the day of Amanda & Ryan’s engagement shoot, but we still had most of the day to explore and get the vibe of the Baltimore Harbor area.  Our first stop was to a cafe named after Van Gogh, but was also a pun on the names of the street corners it sat on (Van Gough Cafe on the corners of Ann and Gough).  It was highly recommended for its Kosher cuisine, so we figured we’d try it out and get a taste of one of the Baltimore subcultures.   

Matt got an everything bagel with cream cheese and lox, and Amanda got a knish without knowing what it was. ;). As it turns out, a knish is a savory flaky pastry filled with veggies.  Amanda got spinach in hers! 

Post breakfast we wandered around the harbor in daylight and ended up at a beautiful, well-lit cafe to work a bit.  We ended up working on our own wedding album, as we hadn’t gotten one printed yet—yikes!  We’re so excited for it to arrive! 

After our engagement session, we finished our trip with some seafood (softshell crab for Matt and crab cakes for Amanda) along the water with Amanda & Ryan.  We heard the distinctive *plink!* of golf balls, then splashes in the water.  At first we were a little concerned, but the server informed us that the golf balls were made of fish food!  After they land in the water, they split apart.  That’s definitely something we’d never seen or heard of before and if our clients wanted to we totally would have joined in. After full evening of walking around the harbor though we were all pretty tired and opted to invest our last bit of energy hunting down some dessert. The walk to Insomnia Cookies was 100% worth it.

To top it off, as we were driving out of the city we saw a Panera ad as we were driving…lobster rolls being served up fresh.