When my daughter C finished middle school, I wanted to do something special to celebrate this milestone. Instead of buying her another “thing,” I bought concert tickets for one of her favorite artists, Gigi Perez. We had seen Gigi Perez open for Hozier the previous September, but this time she was the main act.

Once I realized we would be making the trip to southeastern Virginia, it seemed a shame to drive down for only an evening. I had been to Norfolk a handful of times while I was in college in nearby Williamsburg, but only for concerts. I had never really taken the time to explore the city. So what began as a concert quickly became a two-day getaway. We stayed in a beautiful historic hotel, visited museums and gardens, unexpectedly found ourselves among tall ships from around the world, and celebrated the close of one chapter in C’s life before she embarked on the next.

We left Arlington on Wednesday afternoon, a few hours after C’s eighth-grade promotion ceremony. The drive took a little longer than I had hoped. Between Washington-area traffic and a few extra stops to stretch my legs, it was evening by the time we reached Norfolk.

Fortunately, we did not need to go anywhere else that night because our hotel was an attraction in its own right. The Glass Light Hotel & Gallery occupies a 13-story Classical Revival building dating to 1912. For 63 years, it was the tallest building in Norfolk, and many of its historic architectural details have been preserved.

The hotel also houses the Perry Glass Art Collection, with more than 65 works displayed throughout the property. Two of Dutch artist Peter Bremers’ whimsical rabbit sculptures, Bunny and Pops, greet guests in the lobby. I loved them.

Our first stop on Thursday morning was the Norfolk Botanical Garden. Botanical gardens have become a regular stop on many of our trips. I enjoy them, and over the years C has become a good sport about visiting them with me. I think she likes them more than she lets on.

The Norfolk Botanical Garden is the largest botanical garden in Virginia and is frequently ranked among the best in the United States. Unfortunately, the day was going to be a scorcher, with a heat advisory in effect and temperatures expected to climb into the upper 90s. Fortunately, we arrived just in time to catch the first complimentary narrated tram tour of the morning. We decided to get off at the Summer Butterfly House, ranked as the number one butterfly house in the United States.

The Summer Butterfly House was easily the highlight of our visit to the gardens. Right at the entrance, volunteers were teaching visitors about the butterflies, moths, and caterpillars we would see inside. One butterfly repeatedly flitted around a particular tree, occasionally landing to lay her eggs. We saw monarch butterflies and caterpillars, spicebush swallowtail caterpillars that looked like little lizards, and a cecropia moth caterpillar. C and I spent about 45 minutes in the butterfly house before finally continuing our visit.

By the time we left the butterfly house, the temperature had climbed noticeably. We made our way from the gardens’ more educational section to the formal display gardens. C and I were both feeling the heat, and our phone batteries seemed to be draining almost as quickly as we were. We focused on a few highlights—the Canal Walk, the Renaissance Court, the Perennial Garden, and the Japanese Garden—and made the most of our time there. The gardens are beautiful, and we still spent about two hours exploring them, but I think they are probably best appreciated on a cooler day.

Recuperated, we then walked about 20 minutes to the amazing Chrysler Museum of Art. The museum opened in 1933 as the Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences in the same building it occupies today, overlooking an inlet of the Elizabeth River and the historic Ghent neighborhood. But the former Norfolk Museum of Arts and Sciences became the Chrysler Museum of Art after Walter P. Chrysler of Chrysler Motors donated the majority of his considerable art collection to the museum in 1971. Today it is a world-class museum that is also free!

The museum was so much more than I expected. We easily spent two hours wandering its galleries, admiring everything from ancient artifacts and sculpture to contemporary paintings. After our visit to the Museum of Modern Art in New York in March, C had jokingly decided that Jackson Pollock was her favorite artist and insisted on finding one of his works. Lo and behold, there it was: Number 23, 1951. We were both delighted by her unexpected discovery.

We made our way back to the hotel, picking up some food and snacks along the way. After relaxing in our room for a couple of hours, we headed the few blocks to the NorVa, the intimate venue where we would see Gigi Perez. Having recently injured my back, I was a bit wary of standing shoulder-to-shoulder with 1,500 people for the next couple of hours, but this was C’s eighth-grade graduation gift. I would live.

One of the great things about the NorVa is its intimate size. Even though we were not among the first in line for this first-come, first-served venue, we still found a decent spot and could see well enough. I found a place against a railing where I could lean and occasionally prop up my leg to give my back a break, while C could wander a little closer to the stage without ever leaving my sight.

The NorVa reminded me of many a concert I attended in Norfolk and Newport News in the 1990s. After seeing Gigi Perez with C the year before, I had become a fan myself. Her music has a way of drawing you in with its honesty and emotion. I managed to last nearly the whole concert before I started to feel like an injured middle-aged lady.

The next morning, C and I made our way over to Nauticus, a maritime museum and science center. Included with admission is a tour of the USS Wisconsin, a decommissioned Iowa-class battleship. As C had joined the Sea Scouts the year before, I thought it would be cool to visit a museum like this in a city that hosts the world’s largest naval station.

We started off with a visit to the USS Wisconsin. Moored beside the museum, its massive steel hull is an imposing sight. We chose to explore on our own rather than take a guided tour, but we spent time talking with several volunteers, all former Navy sailors, some of whom had even served aboard the Wisconsin. They were happy to answer questions about both the ship and their time in the Navy.

While I have been aboard a few naval ships over the years—including the USS Blue Ridge during a visit to Jakarta in 2010 while I worked in the Defense Attaché Office, the decommissioned USS Yorktown in Charleston, and the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower back in 1995, when my then-boyfriend appeared on Wheel of Fortune, which was filmed aboard the ship. Even with those experiences, it is not every day that a civilian gets the chance to explore one of these ships, and I still find them awe-inspiring.

After touring the USS Wisconsin, we spent some time exploring the exhibits inside Nauticus. The museum does an excellent job of combining informative displays with interactive exhibits about ships, the sea, and maritime life. We could easily have spent much longer there, but another attraction was calling to us.

We had unknowingly timed our visit to coincide with Sail250, an international maritime celebration held in conjunction with the United States’ semiquincentennial. More than 60 tall ships and naval vessels representing 20 countries had gathered in Norfolk, transforming the waterfront into a maritime parade route.

We made our way down to the waterfront in front of Nauticus and managed to snag a pretty great spot to watch the parade of ships. One after another, tall ships and naval vessels from around the world passed by. The Blue Angels also flew over twice while we watched. Afterwards, we wandered over to Town Point Park, where many of the visiting ships were open for tours. There were food vendors, live entertainment, exhibits, and activities throughout the waterfront, and the whole area had a joyful, festive atmosphere.

Eventually, we decided we had had enough excitement for one weekend and made the drive back to Arlington. It was a wonderful way to celebrate C’s eighth-grade promotion and an opportunity for the two of us to experience Norfolk together.