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It is always hard to think about the place you are living in as a travel destination. Even Washington D.C, a tourist capital (pun intended), was not safe from this phenomenon. After moving here, I spent the first few weeks walking up and down the mall, seeing the monuments, and going to the museums, but I soon found myself bored. Even in this amazing and historic city, I thought that being a resident made things feel less exotic. When I found myself pining for my next vacation, and counting the pennies until I could make it happen, I realized that I was being crazy. Determined to push myself into enjoy the city in the way I would on any other adventure, I got walking. There is no better way to see all a city has to offer than to go on long walks. I walked down embassy row, found a path that took me all the way to Arlington cemetery, and explored how all the streets connected to each other. One day, as I was walking along the riverway, I decided to go on past the standard monuments. I kept walking along the river until I discovered a place that I had heard a lot about, but never considered worth exploring. Affectionately just referred to as “The Wharf,” I found myself in a bustling sea-village that boasted beautiful sights, a full pirate ship, a concert venue, and a marketplace to rival Seattle. It was getting pretty late by the time I arrived so I decided to partake in the festivities and ordered myself some seafood gumbo and a pound of crawfish. I should mention, hailing originally from the South, I have a deep-seated love for crawfish. So, I went and ordered from a booth in the corner of the large marketplace. The vendor was a nice old man who, with his sons, went out and caught all of the fish he peddled. The market was too noisy to really have a conversation but the man seemed nice enough as he rung me up and handed me my platter of seafood. The ambiance of the market itself was top-notch, with the lights of the booths twinkling in the dark sky and all the vendors and customers excitedly greeting each other and exchanging their wares. I was tempted to set up shop right there and start chowing down, but I decided to see what the other half of the Wharf had to offer. Picking up my tray, I walked along the docks and passed several smiling groups of people of all ages laughing and talking and eating an assortment of great looking food. In addition to the seafood restaurants and market, the Wharf was home to a burger joint, a falafel stand, a pizza stand, a Ben & Jerry’s dispensary, and more. Most exciting of the available options, however, was the immensely popular gourmet S’more truck that surrounded a gigantic bonfire. The kids using the truck were so excited by it that I genuinely considered dropping the 7 dollars for one of my own. After walking down the entire dock, I found that it suddenly made a sharp right turn and continued into the water. At the end of this dock was a large sculpture of a bonfire, surrounded by comfy chairs and swings. Sitting on one of those swings, looking out over the glittering water, I opened up my food and began to eat. Both the gumbo and the crawfish were absolutely delicious, made even better by the location in which I was eating them. What happened next, I do not fully understand. Maybe it was a more important day than I knew, or maybe it was a sign from the universe, but fireworks began to go off. As I sat there, basked in the glow and the excitement of the purple and gold fireworks, eating some of my favorite foods from home, and staring at all the people enjoying their lives, I knew I had found a special place. I try to return to the Wharf now every time I need to take a small break from reality. Even in the city of diamonds, I had found a hidden gem.