And practically in my own backyard, too.

Sketchpad in hand (or in backpack, really), I went Tuesday morning to the prettiest place I've seen yet in Virginia (brought to my attention by my drawing instructor*) and purchased a membership just so I can go back and back and back again. How can I not go back to a place that has an Enchanted Forest?

I present the Norfolk Botanical Garden. You won't see any pictures of the Enchanted Forest here, because my battery died once again, somewhere in the middle, but you might see why I want to keep going back.

Because it's like blinking just to find out you've jumped across the Atlantic and back a few hundred years.

Seems like a good place for a coronation, doesn't it? As a matter of fact, I believe they did hold just that here just a few weeks ago.

This romantic little hidden path was not so hidden, but it was a sweet surprise.

This lovely path was blocked off to shelter the baby bald eagles that are nesting in a pine tree (in an 800-pound nest, no less) in the center of the garden. The lovely thing is that there's just one more place for me to explore when I go back. I actually walked through quite a bit of the gardens (settling in the Enchanted Forest to sketch) but there are 12 miles of paved paths -- and countless unpaved paths -- and so there is plenty, plenty, plenty still to be seen.

* She took us to the sculpture garden to draw one Saturday a month or so ago. While living in Europe, I used to see artists sketching or painting in parks all the time, and I always thought they looked so cool. So, well, artiste-ic. And oOn this gorgeous Saturday, as we sat there in the garden, drawing away, a group of Russian tourists came by and very enthusiastically took our picture. And my inner traveler/expatriate is tickled pink to have been a tourist attraction, to have been one of those artists! Now, where'd I put my beret and that absinthe?