Good Morning Baltimore! A brief stopover on our drive to DC, we stopped in at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, MD. Another fine example of History meets Hollywood to create quite the spectacular lesson on the United States’ past via interactive displays and film.

Fort McHenry was the sight of a significant battle in the war of 1812 and it was the morning after the British were defeated that Francis Scott Key penned the poem Defence of Fort McHenry (later renamed the Star-Spangled Banner) and adopted as the National Anthem in 1931. After buying our very own flag as a souvenir, we were surprised to learn that the purchasing a flag at Fort McHenry meant that we would get a free trip out to the Fort with a Park Ranger to fly it where that star-spangled banner flew nearly 200 years ago.

We arrived in Arlington a few hours later to our converted loft room with freshly baked cookies, fresh apple pie and red wine on the porch with our new hosts.