D.C. Trip - Baltimore Day

Bags, as the family's social coordinator, arranged for us to spend Tuesday in Baltimore with Gordon and Liz Bryson, friends from home.  (Mr. Bryson taught English and coached football at HPA.)  They moved to Baltimore a few months ago.  We got a tour of their super-fun, super-tall, and super-narrow townhouse and then headed with Mr. Bryson to Fort McHenry, home of the star-spangled banner. 

Chow Mein got cozy with Mr. Giraffe:

The fort:

The Dalai, extremely tired but excited about America:

The cute fam:



NOT the original star-spangled banner:

Place where they stored ammunition:

Doting on the Wee:

Chavez gets a lift up the stairs in her chariot:

Big guns:

(I think we learned that the British ships never got close enough for the Americans to hit them.)

It's nice visiting historical sights with teachers.  Mr. Bryson imparted all sorts of interesting information:



Mr. Bryson carried everything for me while Pod looked on.  Mr. B:  "Who, me?"

Dolly likes to work on her backbends when she's being held.  If you lean her back once, she'll keep throwing herself back over and over:

We went back to Brysons' for a light lunch and then walked with Mr. and Mrs. B around the harbor to the Baltimore aquarium.  Funny how the ladies and the fellas always split off:

Talking politics, no doubt.

The harbor was lovely.

Federal Hill:
 

Apparently Baltimore's allegiance to the Union has always been sketchy.  In 1861, Confederate sympathizers rioted when a group of Massachussets militia passed through Baltimore on their way to Washington for Federal service.  That riot is considered the first bloodshed of the Civil War.  Afterward, 1,000 Union troops came in at night during a thunderstorm and set up a fort at Federal Hill, cannons pointing toward the central business district, in order to guarantee the allegience of Baltimore and Maryland to the Federal government under threat of force.  (Thank you, Wikipedia, for refreshing my memory.) 

The famous aquarium included large jaws (in which Mr. and Mrs. B posed) . . .

a dolphin show . . .

nifty jellyfish . . .

Cayman alligators (Mr. B said, "Cayman - where Romney keeps his money") . . .

and a cool, big shark tank of which no one got pictures.  We made it in perfect time to finish up just as they were closing. 

We ran into the amazing Barnes and Noble bookstore at the habor (former power plant) before heading back to the Brysons'. 



Brysons fed us a delicious crockpot dinner.  We chatted, took a group photo (instigated by Bags, of course), and then hit the road. 



'Twas a lovely day, and the Brysons were fabulous hosts.  There weren't even any skirmishes over politics!