Last weekend we met up with friends and went for a walk in the meditation garden at the Edgar Cayce's Association for Research and Enlightenment in Virginia Beach. If you don't know who Edgar Cayce is, well, he's a metaphysicist/psychic who believed in some pretty far out stuff (crystals, past lives), but also believed that people should be encouraged to meditate and that areas should be set aside for this purpose. The meditation garden at ARE is full of little spots where people can do just that. There are ponds and fountains and benches and lots of shade and greenery, it's really just restful as can be to be there.

Unless you take two toddlers with you -- luckily on the day we went there wasn't anyone else in the garden besides us (they were all down at the Oceanfront at the Neptune Festival) so we had the run of the joint. The kids enjoyed looking at everything and especially, in Anouk's case, looking at the carp in the ponds and running up and down the little hill that leads to the visitors center.

But the favorite of all was the bamboo maze -- tall stalks of bamboo planted and maintained to have little pockets and pathways inside, perfect for exploring. We spent a ton of time inside, and it was cool and dark and you could just see a little of the blue sky past the tops of the bamboo fronds.







The ARE gift shop in the visitors center is worth a look (we liked trying out the singing bowls and smelling the essential oils) and the upstairs meditation room looks like a dream, so quiet and serene, with a view of the ocean across the street. Though this is pretty much used all the time so probably a better place to explore sans little ones.