Day 2 Touring around Baltimore

Josh and his family decided to go to the Smithsonian Institute galleries in DC while the rest of us went on a Baltimore City Tour and to the National Aquarium.

Evidently Josh had  more exciting day seeing the President's helicopter land!

The Baltimore City Tour was a lot of driving and seeing the sites, well maybe more sitting in traffic than we expected, but the visit to Ft. McHenry was very good.  The row house with the red door is the smallest house in Baltimore.

This is the resting place of Edger Allen Poe and his family.  Evidently he married his cousin so not only his mother-in-law but his Aunt was also buried there.  She was the same person. 

This is the Bromo seltzer tower.  The numbers actually are letters spelling it out.  There used to be a large Blue beacon on top, like a bottle of Bromo Seltzer that lit up at night guiding in ships.

Fort McHenry was an important part of the War of 1812 as the guardian of Baltimore's harbor.  Because of the brave defense by American forces during a British attack on September 13-14, 1814, Francis Scott Key was inspired to write the Star-Spangled Banner.  During the Civil War, it was occupied by Union forces who used it as a prison camp for the detention of Confederate soldiers and political prisoners.  During World War 1, US Army Hospital #2 was located there.  The US Coast Guard used the fort as a training facility during World War II.  Fort McHenry was designated a National Park in 1925 and later designated a National Monument and Historic Shrine. 

More on the Fort itself later.

Then we went back to the Harbor area and explored.  The first stop was the National Aquarium.

The Shark backstage tour was awesome.  Sharks are an important part of our ecosystem due to their cleaning up the weak and sick.  They will eat anything except metal and plastic.  The plastic debris in the ocean is having a devastating affect on sharks.  Without them, we would not have healthy shrimp, tuna, white fish, salmon, etc to eat ourselves.   The National Aquarium is also a rescue establishment for all types of sea creatures.  Including a large turtle that had to have her arm amputated to save her.  Now she lives out her days in the reef inside the aquarium.  

Videos coming soon.