The Amtrak Carolinian Line has 15 stops between Washington, DC and Charlotte North Carolina. Five of them are in Virginia, the rest take travelers on a scenic trip through the North Carolina countryside. We stopped in Charlotte to visit my brother and his wife for a couple of days.

It's a 10 hour ride from DC to Charlotte, leaving at 11 am and arriving at 9 pm. Fortunately, the seats are comfortable, and one can go for a walk whenever one chooses! And there's a cafe car . . .

While our Airbnb was in Charlotte, we spent a goodly amount of time in Belmont, about 15 miles west, to see my brother and his wife.

Cindy and I are big botanical garden fans, and try to visit one in every city we go to. In Belmont, it was the Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden.

Stowe is named "One of the nation's great gardens" by HGTV.

The gardens cover 380 acres, with a large conservatory and a wide variety of plants.

The gardens were opened in 1999, though interest in the area goes back 200 years.

The garden is named for its founder, Daniel Stowe, a textile executive from Belmont.

It's a lovely place to spend time wandering and investigating its rich botanical surrounds!