April 2015 Trip in the Works

After a year off, I am excited to revisit some parks this season, starting in April with a trip to DC, Baltimore and Philly.

Anyone have advice how best to hit a Baltimore night game on mass transit, while staying in a hotel in D.C.? Or should I plan on renting a car?

Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Kabakoff (35) on February 2, 2015 at 7:05am

Cool, thanks!

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Permalink Reply by Lem Peters on February 11, 2015 at 10:45am

Babe Ruth Museum is nice but small. It is in his childhood home. There is a museum almost touching Camden Yards Stadium called Sports Legends which is real nice. It has lots of interactive exhibits as well as really cool Baltimore sports memorabilia. The third floor of the museum is a separate comic book and pop culture museum if you like that sort of thing. I think that they bundle the Sports Legends and Babe Ruth Museum tickets as a package.

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Permalink Reply by Tom MacDonald on February 2, 2015 at 11:40am

Eric, you might also consider staying at the Hampton Inn directly beside the park in Baltimore. Pickles bar is located right beside it and it is definetely the place everyone visits before the game. And the Babe Ruth museum used to give you a reduced entry rate if you show them your Hampton Inn room key. They may still but I'm not sure. Enjoy, all 3 parks are great, especially Camden Yards.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Kabakoff (35) on February 2, 2015 at 12:04pm

Ooh, good to have a back-up hotel. Thank you! It's not clear whether the Babe Ruth Museum is done with renovations (which probably means they're not), but now I am thinking of getting into Baltimore earlier to do a Camden Yards tour. That would be really cool.

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Anderson on February 5, 2015 at 12:35pm

I made a similar trip in September.

I flew to BWI and took the MARC from the airport directly to the Camden Yards stop. It was extremely easy----took 20 minutes or so. The MARC stop is right outside Door 19 in main section of the airport.

From the Camden Yard stop, it was a simple 15 minute walk to the Hampton Inn where I stayed for 3 nights. The Babe Ruth museum was worth the $10 they charge. You just follow the painted baseballs around Camden Yards and you'll run right into it. The museum is all positive stuff about Ruth----no negatives to be found. Still interesting to see the original furnishings, the old uniforms, and learn something new about a baseball icon.

I also did the Camden Yards tour. It was $10 and about 1.5 hours. The tourguide (I think his name was Rudy) gave a fascinating discussion on how they took a dirty railyard and warehouse and turned it into the ballpark we know as Oriole Park at Camden Yards. He'll fill you in on the landscaping requirements, point out where Babe Ruth went to school, and show you a lot of the behind the scenes stuff at the park.

After seeing a couple of games at Camden Yards, I took a cab to Penn Station (which is on the other side of the city) and then caught AMTRAK down to Washington Union Station. From there I took another cab to the Hotel Lombardy which is near several metro stations. I stayed at the Hotel Lombardy for 5 nights and saw 2 Nats games. This hotel is near George Washington University, but getting to the Naval Yard stop was fairly simple. I didn't see too many places to stay right around the ballpark, and I was happy with the GWU neighborhood as it was pretty safe.

I guess if I was going to Philly I'd either check out AMTRAK from Union Station or rent a car from Union Station. I actually rented a car from Union Station but went south to Virginia instead.

Tons to do in both cities. You won't be bored. Have fun!

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Permalink Reply by Eric Kabakoff (35) on February 6, 2015 at 8:07am

Thank you so much. This is great information!! I actually need a DC hotel too so will check that place out. Appreciate it!

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Permalink Reply by Michael Hertz (18/21) on March 19, 2015 at 3:09pm

Check out the Capitol Skyline Hotel in DC. We were pleased with it. Reasonably priced, and walking distance to the ballpark.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Kabakoff (35) on March 20, 2015 at 7:39am

Will do. Thank you!

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Permalink Reply by Robyn on February 25, 2015 at 6:40pm

Hi Eric,
I did Baltimore a few years ago. I recommend the stadium tour if you can get there early enough. Such a nice stadium, and the tour guide told a lot of the history of the ballpark and it's design.

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Permalink Reply by Tim Choiniere on February 26, 2015 at 11:17am

Just one update to this post. Between Baltimore and DC, take MARC rather than Amtrak, its about a third of the cost and more frequent. You can catch some trains at Camden Station (adjacent to Camden Yards) and end up at Union Station.

I just booked my yearly DC trip to see the Nationals! Padres at Nats. Now if I could only change the schedule to have Baltimore home that week.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Kabakoff (35) on February 26, 2015 at 12:04pm

Awesome re: your Nats trip, Tim! Definitely will check the MARC. And thank you Robyn, I actually now plan to make [most of] a day of it in Baltimore...stadium tour, Babe Ruth Museum and Sports Legends Museum. Now if only the Orioles would announce when single game tickets go on sale already!