Surelocked Escape Games – Fredrick Maryland

The following contains no spoilers!

And now for one of those new things that has been wrapped into my life because of others. Since we were in a totally different part of the country the idea came up to check out an escape room. This one we just found walking by! As we entered we were warmly welcomed and told there was two openings – one for a saloon game and one for a T-rex game. With a three person team I was given the deciding vote. I went for the dinosaurs. I mean… I’d seen all sorts of escape games in old timey settings but dinosaurs?? I know I’m well into my thirties but come on… dinosaurs are awesome.

ANYWAY. Our game masters seemed happy with our choice and told us if we succeeded that we’d be in for a big surprise at the end. Sounds good to me! The basic gist of the game was that we had to find the T-rexes missing eggs and return them to the nest by going through a series of puzzles. This we did – in the dark because that’s where we started and we never figured out the puzzle that turned the damn lights on. So we’re special. We know that.

This was doubly amusing when at one point I decided to solve one of the puzzles by myself while the others were busy. I knew when I started it that it was meant for two people to be doing at once but fuck that. I was going for the introvert award. Hilariously it did take me a good ten or fifteen minutes but I totally was able to finagle it all by my lonesome. Look! I’m useful! This is new.

We all solved the puzzle and there was indeed a big surprise at the end that scared the bejesus out of all of us, even me, and that’s saying something! Anyway, here’s our winning photo and me as usual looking very… drunk… because I have to blink at exactly the wrong moment every goddamn time. SIIIGH.

November 15, 2021 0

Rock and Roll Graveyard – Fredrick Maryland

One thing I had not planned on was coming across a number of vinyl record shops on our little walk through the city of Fredrick. But I mean how could we possibly resist? This first one wasn’t just a record shop it had an adorable name the Rock and Roll Graveyard. We had passed it on our first night in Fredrick and seeing it was closed we made a mental note to come back the next day. We were not disappointed!

Essentially we thought it was just another one of those cute off-the-street basement vinyl shops but this place actually had two floors and a wide range of music genres to pick through. Everything from folk to punk. And I even found a copy of Alice’s Restaurant for five bucks which I had to buy considering I have been torturing my travel companions with this song extra hard since it’s November and so close to Thanksgiving. I think we all won with this one. And it came with this cool new sticker…

One of my travel companions also made out with a few items selected from the heavy metal bins.

November 15, 2021 1

Antiques Emporium – Fredrick Maryland

Another thing on our list of to-do’s was to visit an antique store. It’s something we had become accustomed to doing in Rhode Island (where the products are usually quite pricey) and Maine (where every rusty nail is a treasure.) We even discussed potentially finding an antique store with something Civil War related – maybe an old musket ball or something – to see if we could take home something to curse ourselves with. And of course I was on my usual mission of finding the world’s creepiest doll. It’s not a common hobby but it’s my hobby and I like it.

The Antiques Emporium was a great place to stop for all of this. It was huge. Two floors of absolute chaos. Everything from fine furniture to a copy of Marilyn Monroe’s drivers license. And of course there were steam punky things, sharp things, things with faces that shouldn’t have faces, creepy dolls galore, and a painting of an androgynous child I would have totally brought home with me if I had $250.

And some of this stuff was apparently haunted – I can tell because one of my travel companions had to bolt out of the store at one point. No worries, we’re all good now. It was just a case of the heebie jeebies.

November 14, 2021 0

Self Walking Tour of Civil War Field Hospitals – Fredrick Maryland

After thoroughly dissecting the National Museum of Civil War Medicine we picked a booklet up in the gift shop that detailed a self tour we could take of local Civil War field hospitals. This we did. Now I did not have a booklet… I was just half-way listening as we walked and I snapped photos so I am going to warn you now this is a historically underwhelming entry. HOWEVER, here’s what I learned: when your city is surrounded by battlefields churches make great emergency hospitals! Seriously, there was a church on almost every corner and almost all of them had some sort of involvement in this. If I remember right (and do not quote me on this) I think there were around 17 of them on this tour. It wasn’t a long walk and was all and all quite pleasant. Below are the photos I took – most of which are probably of significant buildings.

Here’s what I do remember – the thing that looks like stables were once slave quarters and later stables. The iron fencing is where there is a nuclear bomb shelter that the locals like to whisper about. The Cherub that looks like he’s peeing in the bushes is actually looking over a brick labyrinth that was kind of fun to walk. The iron dog was once stolen to melt down for bullets but was somehow stolen back and replaced before this could happen. And of course there’s a snallygaster hidden in these photos too. He’s the local cryptid. Also I am sorry if these photos are a little on the blurry side. My camera was really struggling with full sunlight!

November 14, 2021 0

Busting out of New England! To Maryland I go!

I am just writing this quick entry to announce that this week I will be doing something a little different with this blog. Since I was invited to attend a wedding in Maryland I decided to take a few days off and poke around Baltimore and Fredric. I had a lot of fun with great people and destinations and took enough photos to make you cry. We ended up everywhere – at museums, battlefields, escape rooms, some fantastic diners, antique shops, record stores, parks, and of course cemeteries. So buckle and stay tuned as I post a flurry of Maryland-based entries!

Below are some photo teases to wet your apatite.

November 13, 2021 0