I spent an afternoon with a friend at Fort McHenry last weekend, and it was way more fun than I thought it would be. For those not familiar with this particular national monument, Fort McHenry was the site of a  battle during the War of 1812. The story goes that as the smoke cleared after a booming battle with the British navy, Francis Scott Key, a Baltimore lawyer who had been watching the action from vessel on the Patapsco River, saw the stars and stripes flying and was inspired to write the words to “The Star Spangled Banner.” Fort McHenry opened a new $15 million Visitor and Education Center in…