There's quite a bit to do in Baltimore. One of the highlights of Baltimore is their aquarium. Not free, but worth every penny. For starters the whole huge top floor is a mock
Amazon rainforest.
There is also a science museum, an ESPN zone, and some other stuff in the inner harbor area. You can go up to the top of their World Trade Center. There are also historical ships right inthe inner harbor you can tour fora fee. Ask your hotel to direct you to Fells Point for the local pub crawl scene. There are a number of bars all clustered in walking distance. There's one, I forget the name, that has over 40 beers on tap. It's quite the collection. (Ask in Baltimore and someone can tellyou the name probably) Many also feature good local food, like crab cakes. There's plenty of dining tucked into the same area. On Weekends, you are rather likely to run into a bachelorette party.
The art museum in Baltimore is very good. One section I think is free, and the visisting collections can be very interesting - like a recent one of Hubble images.
There are several branches of a local Italian pastry shop called Vaccaro's for cannoli, gelato, cookies. Quite reasonable. There is a section called little Italy with lots of restauarants. I've heard mixed reviews.
Orioles baseball games aren't very expensive. Sometimes they have tickets as low as $10.
If you head over to an area called Canton, the heart of Canton has a square park. There are several pubs there, including one called "Nacho Mama's." (Get it?) the place is tiny! but they have excellent Mexican pub food. People even bring their kids. It fill up quickly on weekends, so arriving around five or five thiry is advised to avoid a long wait. The place is an amusement unto itself. The front is full of Baltimore memorabilia (It does change), the back is decorated in velvet Elvises. (i.e. those painting that were 'popular' inthe 70's where someone would paint Elvis Presley on black velvet). If you go, and even if you dine elsewhere- consider ordering a "Natty Boh" - that's local slang for National Bohemian beer. It's not great beer, but it used to be brewed in Baltimore. You will still see a large neon version of Natty Boh over teh city (a face with one eye closed.) The other must have in my opinion, there is a crab quesadilla. They make several versions, the one that's mostly all lump crabmeat is the best! The erfried beans there are also WAY above anyplace else I've ever had them! I don't know what they do to make them so good.
If not a crab quesadilla, try to find a place that has good crabcakes.
You could head down to DC, but the traffic can be a nightmare. If traffic is good, it will take about an hour an half to get to the Mall. At anything approaching rush hour it could take quite a bit longer; at least double that. You can take the metro from the nothernmost stop of the metro, but that's going to take a while too. The Smithsonian is HUGE and you could spend most of an entire day ina any one of the museums or the zoo. DC also has MANY other museums. Many are free, or parts are free. The Building Museum, the Spy Musuem (not free), and oddball ones like the Textile Museum.
