An evening drive through a close-by place I’d never seen before: Clark’s Crossing is a little park that adjoins the Washington and Old Dominion rail trail. To get there from our house you go all the way into the town of Vienna and most of the way out again. It is difficult to find — but worth it once you do.

For most of the drive we could have been out in the country and in another century: narrow lanes lined with vines and hedges, open fields, houses set back off the road, twists and turns and sudden hilltop vistas. The air was fragrant with honeysuckle and had a heaviness that meant summer was here. We couldn’t believe we had never been this way before. And now that we know about it, I hope we come this way again.