Our first Bandida ride of the summer of 2008 was a minor bust. Oh, we received our usual hoots and shout outs, "Hey can I have a ride?" from the charming men of Baltimore (and we're called "Charm City" why?), but the fun was cut short because we didn't buy tickets in advance and Sex and the City was sold out at the Landmark (boo). THEN it started to rain (double boo). So... of course we "had to" duck into James Joyce pub (http://www.thejamesjoycepub.com/) to wait it out (yay!). I had a cosmopolitan in honor of the movie and we tried out the Shepherd's Pie. It was pretty good and can best be described as mashed potato stew. It will make sense when you have it...

A few cosmos later the rain subsided and we rode home. The only exciting thing to note is that Gov. O'Malley was there too, tucked away in a little corner with his goons. Well folks that's what we call exciting in Baltimore!

It all began when our husbands discovered world taven poker. They would head out to the bars and play in the evenings, leaving us to our own devices. On one such afternoon, we decided to jump on our bikes and go “festival hopping.” We went to St. Leos Fesitval in Little Italy, then to the Federal Hill Festival. So maybe not so much hopping, but it was enough! Because we were on our bikes, there was no limit to how much we could drink, right? So not surprising that we ended up taking the bikes through the lobby of the inner harbor Hyatt, up the escalator, and into Edgar's where one of us (and I won't say who, but we ALL know) proceeded to crash into a pool table.

For the rest of the summer we rode our bikes to different bars and restaurants trying them out, giving them our personal ratings. We plan to continue the tradition this summer, and THIS year we have new members. We're thinking about getting jackets...

Summer is upon us... Do you know what that means? Bicycle Bandidas ride again!