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St. Patrick’s Day Pub Crawl 2018


It was an Irish-like day in the Canton neighborhood of Baltimore – cold and gray with the threat of rain. We arrived around 10:30 after a bountiful full Irish breakfast party hosted by Eileen and Andrew. Joining them and Corinne were Donna and me, Kate, Ryan and Eric, Pammy and Chris, and Mike and Rose who drove in from New Jersey.

The Swanekamps had rented a van and we piled in. Andrew drove to the appointed destination, from whence we walked to our customary first stop, Cardinal, where the bloody Marys flowed. Cardinal changes ownership seemingly with every season, but it remains a welcoming, handsome corner bar in the Baltimore tradition – a long, narrow bar set in a long, narrow rowhouse, with
exposed timber rafters and exposed brick walls adorned with pictures of old-time local athletes and a few random rock stars. We played Semi Charmed Live on the jukebox in honor Jack, who couldn’t join us this year. Barb was absent as well, and we missed them both.

From Cardinal we strolled to Lee’s Pint & Shell and found plenty of room and a fine bar upstairs. We stayed long enough for one drink and then were joined by Tom and Kathleen and Michelle and Jimmy, so we stayed for another.

A tradition of ours is the limerick contest. Each person writes a poem upon RSVPing to the Swanekamps and the winner gets to wear the prized Limerick Sash to Cardinal. At each stop is a new contest.

Donna proudly wore the sash for her initial entry, and at Cardinal passed it on to Pammy, whose throwdown at Lee’s beat out stiff competition. From there we went to HomeSlyce for lunch and, obviously, more beer, and where Andrew got sashed up for his poetic submission.

We closed out our tab and hoofed it to Quarterhouse, the former NcDevin’s, the final stop on our crawl. By that time we were all limericked out.

From there we headed back to the Swanekamps, where Kate had gone ahead to prepare for us a feast of delicious, alcohol-absorbing food.

It’s a magical day, even for those of us less-than-full-blooded-Irish, with much laughing, and socializing, and friendship, and as every St. Patrick’s Day evening, I start to look forward to the next one.

Slainte!



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