July 6th was the day the campers at St. Veronica’s got wheels. Roller skating wheels, that is. Our latest field trip took us to Shake and Bake, an indoor skating rink and family fun center on Pennsylvania Avenue in Baltimore.

“Shake and Bake is Baltimore’s premiere hot spot for family entertainment. We cater to everyone from ages 2 to 80 and guess what? Anybody you bring is welcome. We have roller skating, and we have bowling in our 32-lane state of the art bowling center,” said Anthony Williams, general manager. “If you haven’t been to Shake and Bake, you haven’t been anywhere.”

We took Mr. Williams’ endorsement to heart. We skated ‘til we dropped, we fell down and got back up, we grooved to the music, played games and tasted some goodies from the snack bar. “I like it, it’s fun,” said Jabril, “But I’m all busted up.”

Anthony noted that there had been a lot of injuries—thankfully, minor—on the rink, but that “we’re still holding on. It was great.” And, as Brandon chimed in, “It’s good. It’s all good.”

Even one of our teachers, Miss O, got into the action, going around the rink twice and falling twice. Miss Smith, camp director, stated that “I think the trip has been successful thus far—we have quite a few groups of kids out there skating. Miss O is on skates, Miss Hainie is on skates. Mr. Mitchell is chillin’ and Mr. Watkins is chowing down on some food. The important thing is we’re all having fun.”

Mr. Mitchell, another one of our teachers, took a break from relaxing rink-side to comment: “Man, the skating is awesome. The kids are wonderful, and there’s a lot of energy here.”



Story by Christopher. Photographs by Saul.