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BY SARAH KEITH
An "ever-evolving destination" is how the Web site Baltimore.org describes Maryland's famed waterfront metropolis.
Baltimore boasts layers of history, dating back to the Civil and Revolutionary wars. (Anyone who's ever heard the "The Star-Spangled Banner" or read Frederick Douglass' famous slave narrative will know something about the city.)
Over the past several decades, though, the one-time industrial hub has added tons more cultural attractions for tourists. Baltimore boasts an aquarium, a zoo, museums and countless shopping opportunities.
Despite the roughly 90-minute drive (in favorable traffic), it's worth it to see this wonderful city. On a recent visit, I found it enriching and quite entertaining.
WE'RE OFF TO SEE 'WICKED'
For several years, my mother and I had been dying to see the Broadway musical "Wicked," which gives the "untold story" of "The Wizard of Oz," focusing on the relationship between Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, and Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. When the touring production came to Baltimore's Hippodrome Theatre, we saw our chance.
The show was unlike any that I had seen before. Most of the songs involved the whole cast, and the ones that didn't have as many participants were just as theatrical.
The plot, based on the novel "Wicked" by Gregory Maguire, also tied in well with the classic "Wizard of Oz" movie, itself based on L. Frank Baum's book. Though the story had a lot to live up to, it had me laughing, then crying, proving itself as a very powerful production.
TAKING IN THE HARBOR
Our next destination was the Inner Harbor, a spread-out shopping center located around a branch of the Chesapeake Bay.
The Hard Rock Cafe towered over it and cast neon shadows everywhere, giving it a sort of fall carnival feeling.
We passed by the National Aquarium and a few mall-like centers. Potent smells filled the air at one of the malls, as we walked by a perfume store, a candle shop and Bath & Body Works.
After passing the Cheesecake Factory and Uno's Pizzeria, we headed to a less crowded alternative for dinner: the ice-cream store.
The city boasts, among its many "firsts," being home to the first commercial ice-cream factory in America, according to Baltimore.org.
Who knows if the cookie-dough-filled vanilla treat we enjoyed bore any resemblance to Jacob Russell's 1851 recipe, but even on a chilly evening, it proved the perfect snack for touring the Inner Harbor, allowing us to walk and eat at the same time.
Searching for refuge against the cold, we walked into the Hard Rock Cafe and mooned over the $40 hoodies that were out of my price range, before heading to something more my style, a two-story Barnes & Noble.
It was like heaven. I saw books I had never seen before, like a history of Russia from the Neolithic age to the revolution--something I had been unable to find here in Fredericksburg. (Unfortunately, that book was also $40.)
After spending about 30 minutes perusing the shelves, I left with a magazine and a Sudoku book for the ride home.
We rolled back into good old Fredericksburg at about 9 p.m., having left that morning at about 11. And let me tell you, it was a day to remember.
Sarah Keith is a eighth-grader at Freedom Middle School.
