• This post includes an in-kind collaboration

The Potomac River. First time visiting Washington, DC? Or, maybe you’re returning for a second, third or even fourth visit. Either way, there’s always something new to experience when visiting the city. I’ve said more than once a visitor could easily spend a month in Washington, DC and still not experience everything.

Chanticleer Gardens is located just about 2 1/2 hours north of Washington, DC. Located in the region known as Brandywine Valley, the gardens home is in Wayne, Pennsylvania.

A potato museum? We didn’t know there was such a place, but then sometimes the best part of traveling is finding the unexpected. That’s just what happened while we were exploring Prince Edward Island. We discovered the Canadian Potato Museum. Who knew? Can you guess what’s on the lunch menu?

Anne of Green Gables. The iconic novel is deeply rooted in the natural wonders of Prince Edward Island. I remember hiking the Homestead Trail in Cavendish National Park and thinking it was as if we were walking through the pages of Anne of Green Gables. It was picture postcard perfect.

Kensington, PEI. It’s a small blink of a town with a 4-way intersection and a population of maybe 2,000. The neighborhood streets are lined with cozy homes and almost every home has an immaculate garden bursting with glorious colors. It’s the same all over PEI. Some, are extraordinary and we were in awe of the time spent in maintaining such a yard. Kensington is just a few miles from Summerside where we based ourselves for ten days while exploring the island.

The floating boardwalk of Greenwich National Park can be found on Prince Edward Island. It was the first adventure we set our sights on after arriving on PEI. We settled in to our accommodations for the next ten days and got busy mapping our path of adventure.

Richmond, Virginia. It was our first visit to the city; a city deeply rooted in American history with direct ties to the civil war. It’s a city with historical neighborhoods, a modern city center and incredible murals seemingly around every corner. It’s where we experienced Mexican/Asian fusion for the first time and you know what? It works! Virginia Commonwealth University calls Richmond home, and it has a student population of 25,000+. With no set expectations on this our first visit to Richmond, our eyes and minds were open to new experiences.

Dumbarton Oaks Museum and Gardens is a missed opportunity for many visitors to Washington, DC. It’s a bit off of the main tourism lane and unfortunately, too many miss this gem.

Let’s take a picturesque stroll through the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden. Shall we?

If you’re of a certain age, you remember typewriters, right? And, what did you use to erase typos back in the dark days? A typewriter eraser that spun on a little wheel insert and it had bristles to wipe away the erasure dust. There it is, pictured above. The world’s largest typewriter eraser. Created by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen

White Flags on the National Mall in Washington, DC. It’s a site we never thought we’d see, but then the world in which we find ourselves is no longer the world we knew before the pandemic. 687,167 on the day we saw the flags. It’s a staggering number. A staggering loss.