i ate my weight in hushpuppies...and other pbbl adventures

Not only did I manage to pull off another PBBL adventure, but I managed to do it with a hell of a lot of fun people. Let me preface this by saying that my friends and I aren't the type who regularly go on trips or vacations together. We talk about. We talk excitedly and make plans. It never happens. So I was friggin thrilled when the majority of our little crew actually booked rooms and we headed down together. The trip necessitated no less than18 different navigational technologies. At one point, I had printed directions, my phone's navigation and Kelly's GPS in my hands. We played "Who's Car is More Fun" via text. We cursed the state of Maryland and it's ro-ads. Oh, we should take 4 East says the directions? That's funny because the only signs we see are for 4 North and 4 South. Love ya Maryland and your crazy exit-ramp/sign/road changing ways. Oh that's right, our destination was Solomons Island, MD. The plan was to have no plans...to check the place out then eat and drink well. Mission accomplished.

After checking into our hotel, we headed down to the Chesapeake. Ok, so their "riverwalk" left a little something to be desired....it was like 20 feet long. And there were maybe 2 little shops but they looked like they were in people's houses so we skipped those. But really, we didn't care. Why?

Because directly in front of us stood this. See it? A deck. On that deck sat a bar. And bars, my friends, are our friends.

So besides our small freakouts when the boats would constantly bump into the deck, the moody waitresses and the crap music that was blaring, we got down to business. Mixed drinks. Margaritas, mai tais, mojitos. Why do all the fun ones start with M?

You'd think these boys had never been to the Jersery Shore before.
Mesmerized by these little a-holes. God I hate seagulls. You know that urban legend that says if you feed them Alka Seltzer then they'll blow up? Let's test that one.


We headed back to the hotel for a quick swim, shower & freshly baked cookies at the front desk then headed out for dinner. During our little expedition on the island, we randomly picked a restaurant to go to so I ran inside and made a reservation for that night for 11 people. Well after talking to some locals and our shuttle driver, we were steered away from Calypso Bay (and not a moment too soon due to what we saw later that night) and steered towards The Dry Dock Inn. Yeah, it was a little fancier (more expensive) than we planned but oops, we were already dropped off in their parking lot.

We made do. And by made do, I mean we stuffed ourselves on various seafood-y schtuffs. And there was a dinghy hanging on the ceiling above our table.

Then came the most interesting part of the night. The part that we had actually planned. While doing my research for this trip, I found the Tiki Bar. Take a moment to check out the website. Go ahead., I'll wait.

Ok, good, thanks for coming back. Now, in looking at that site, that looks like the place to be, right? Well let me tell you that they put more money into their website design that into anything else at this bar. Ok, they did have an exceptional amount of Adirondack chairs that Katie pointed out, ARE NOT cheap. But this bar was kind of a joke. We showed up around 10ish I'm guessing and the place was half full. And it's a pretty big place too, so when half is empty, it looks pretty bad. They had a huge sandlot where the adirondacks were lined up on the sides. So people sat lined up in chairs and stared across the sand at other people. Awkward. Anyway, I'll just get right to the worst part: the ambiance.

Bars/Clubs are supposed to have music. Not necessarily for people to dance, although that's nice sometimes, but for background noise or whatever. How else are drunk girls supposed to throw their hands up in the air when Pour Some Sugar On Me comes on and scream to their friends "This is my song!!" ?? The Tiki Bar spent so much money on their website that not only could they not afford a DJ, they could not even afford a boombox. I think they were playing an alarm clock radio. And they had it set on my grandmom's station. And they had the volume on 1. It was amazing how much difference some good volume-appropriate music can make in your night out. You could hear the crickets at this place. It was just strange.

Anyway, here's us. Making our own fun like we always do. So later, Katie & I decide to ask the door guy why the music sucked. I think he may have been a little offended. he told us that it never changes and the Tiki Bar is somewhere to chill and talk to your friends. Dude, all we wanted was some Marley or something at least a little Tiki-oriented. This bar had no clue. The door guy told us if we wanted something different to go across the street to Calypso Bay. So we did.

This place was gross. They packed us into a room that looked like they had gutted fish there earlier. We were clearly the oldest people there. The music blew. Thank god for the open air taxi on the way home that was meant for 6 people but managed to cart 11 of us home. That ride was amazing. And made up for the nonsensical nightlife that this island offered.

The next day we were on a mission to eat crabs. Sarah typed crabs into her phone and all of a sudden, we were here...at Abner's With crabs and beer. And hushpuppies. Lots of hushpuppies. And more margaritas. And our awesome waitress Roxy the owner's wife.

So thank you friends for getting it together and making it happen.

Oh and Adrienne, I owe you $1.65. I bought a bag of Combos at 3am and charged them to your room. Woops. Love you.