Type: Short Trip (Morning/Afternoon ride)
Distance: 65.1 miles
Drive Time: 1 hours 56 min according to Google Map
I was a bit too busy this weekend. By the time I found a time to go anywhere, the weekend was almost over. So, I decided to take a quick trip to Ft.McHenry in Baltimore. It is an old fort where Battle of Baltimore was fought against British Navy during the War of 1812. This battle inspired a guy by the name of Scott Francis Key to write what is now a lyrics of Star Spangled Banner, the American national anthem. It is designated as a "National Monument and Historic Shrine". The route map above also contains a Flag House Museum, where Star Spangled Banner (this time mean American Flag) flew over the fort was sawn.
Point A (Point D):
I left around 4:00 PM, with me on FZ-1 and my wife and kids in a car.
Point A to Point B:
I avoided interstates on the way out. The route itself was rather boring. This may be one of those routes that actually should be rode on interstates to save time. The route gets tricky as it gets closer to Ft.McHenry. Once you past the bridge, wait to the second light and turn to the right just before the on-lamp to I-95. Then, carefully follow the sign to the fort. The fort is tacked behind freight terminal and pretty hard to find. I recommend studying the map well for this part.
Point B:
When we got there, the monument was technically closed (the park closes at 5:00 pm). They don't really close the facility just yet though. There is an important ceremony of changing the flag at 5:00 pm. You see, by the presidential proclamation, this fort is supposed to fly the Star Spangled Banner 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, rain or shine or cannon balls, so that it shows "the flag was still there" as a symbol of the country. During the day, it flys an old, 15 stars 15 stripes banner, which was the national flag when the battle was fought and the anthem was written. At night, they change this flag to present day, 51 stars 13 stripes banner. The ranger changes the flag with a help of visitors. The monument is supposed to cost 7 dollars to enter. They did not charge us today though, perhaps because it was technically already closed.
Point C:
Maybe this was the main event of the day instead of the fort. We stopped by at Canton Dockside restaurant for dinner. They have a great steamed crabs! When we ordered it, they simply dumped a dozen freshly killed crabs onto the table. With mallets and knives in our hands, we savaged through the crabs. It is not cheap though. Medium size crabs were $75 a dozen that day. It changes via market price. Down side of taking this route from Point B to Point C is that it has a short underground tunnel, which has $3 toll. The alternative is to make a long detour over the land to avoid the tunnel. Well, I think I take the toll way.
Point D:
I did not actually go there this day, but if you want to make it the day of history, you can visit the Flag House Museum., where Mary Pickersgill saw the flag flew over Ft.MacHenry that day. They are open from Tuesday through Saturday. The actual flag is apparently in Smithsonian now.
Point E:
Return was a quick ride back on the highway. The map of this page has slightly different route from actual route of the day because we actually did not go to Point D. The actual ride was that tunnel back to I-95.
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