My first black bear encounter involved spotting one while out jogging, which resulted in running my best mile in the opposite direction. Obviously, this is terrible advice in the event of a black bear incident, but the story had local black bear expert, Sally Maughan, laughing through the phone.

While in town for my artist brother’s DC finale, we made sure to visit one of his local haunts, Kenilworth Aquatic Park and Gardens. It was a brilliantly blue, late July afternoon and, armed with cameras, we took to the grassy trails that bordered a series of ponds overflowing with lush lotus flowers, their pink and white heads in all stages of blossom. Plenty of nature-loving folk wandered the paths, some still in their Sunday best, taking in the aquatic flowery expanses.

From Sarasota, I took the bridge to Lido Key, one of multiple barrier islands that line the west coast of the state of Florida. Following the sounds of the seabirds I walked out onto the grainy, off-white sands of Lido Beach, which overlooks the gleaming blue-green waters of the Gulf of Mexico.