Upon learning that my husband and I have been to all 50 states in the United States, our rabbi’s daughter, Hadassa, asked, “Where to now?” Excitedly, I told her we visited two gardens recently while fine-tuning our visits within the states.

When she asked how I found these places, I first explained about Longwood Gardens. Look for A Long-Awaited Visit to Longwood Gardens, next week at sharonmarkcohen.com. As for the Hillwood Estate and Gardens, I asked my friend Robin, who often visits D.C. and lives there with her son, for ideas on what to see if we’ve already visited most of the landmarks and museums over the years. With that, she asked if we had ever been to Hillwood.

On that suggestion, we headed to the estate of Marjorie Merriweather Post, the heiress of her father C. W. Post‘s estate. Her father, the founder of Post and Kellogg’s cereals, passed away at a young age. He left his inheritance to his only daughter, Marjorie. When I texted with our cousin Judy, who I was planning to see while my husband, Arnee, was at the conference, she wrote, “Hillwood is fabulous! Enjoy!”

When we got together the next day, Judy, an attorney/artist who lives across the D.C. border in Chevy Chase, Maryland, spoke about Hillwood and mentioned there is a bomb shelter at the complex. She added that Marjorie also had Mar-a-Lago built with equal protective qualities. Who knew?

In the lovely gift shop at Hillwood, I purchased the book about Marjorie’s life. I’m looking forward to reading about this beautiful woman who was ahead of her time. Meantime, a simple Wikipedia view shows, “Marjorie Merriweather Post (March 15, 1887 – September 12, 1973) was an American businesswoman, socialite, and philanthropist. She was the daughter of C. W. Post and the owner of General Foods Corporation. For much of Post's life, she was known as the wealthiest woman in the United States.[1][2]

“Post used much of her fortune to collect art, particularly Imperial-era Russian art, much of which is now on display at Hillwood, the museum which was her estate in Washington, D.C. She is also known for her mansion, Mar-a-Lago, in Palm Beach, Florida.”

In addition to the above-listed ways to find places of interest to visit, when we visited our grandchildren in the Cleveland outskirts, I searched the World Wide Web for things to do. That was how we found Sweetie’s Candy Warehouse and Ice Cream Parlor, a 22-minute drive from our son’s house in Ohio. Ahead of another visit, we learned about the Illusions Museum in downtown Cleveland from a Facebook advertisement. What fun!!

When we visited our grandchildren in Southern California, we headed to Johnnie Carson Park playground in Burbank and the Away in the Catskills - Summers, Sour Cream, and Dirty Dancing, by Marisa J. Futernick, exhibit at the Skirball, with a second visit to the Noah’s Ark exhibit at the museum. See Catskills West, dated September 30, 2025, at sharonmarkcohen.com.

Then, there are some of the neatest places to visit, discovered on the drive-by. For example, we took our grandchildren, living in Ohio, to the Cleveland History Center. That happened by chance while we were in town for the weekend. We were drawn to the museum upon spotting a merry-go-round through the window and a sign on the building announcing a special exhibit, Mini Mania: Big Fun on Little Bikes. We thought it would be perfect for our five and six-year-old grandchildren.

The children immensely enjoyed the three hours we spent at the kid-friendly museum. The people manning the merry-go-round allowed them to embark many times, as there were no lines of patrons waiting to ride. Arnee and I also found much for adults to enjoy.

Hadassa wants a list from me. I’m happy to oblige. I told her that her eldest brother had our Alaska itinerary, which he requested, and the brochures we collected on that trip.

There are so many wonderful places to explore in our country. That’s not to say that we’re not looking into—and looking forward to—our next trip abroad.