With dozens of hiking, swimming, and dining destinations an hour or two away, D.C. residents are perfectly situated to soak up the summer.

Drive a few hours for beautiful views, berry orchards, and award-winning brews.

The driver said, “He began to tell me who he was, but I didn’t believe him. But when we stopped and he left the car, I Googled him, and everything popped up.”

How could we not highlight this? Eric Nuzum, one of DCist’s favorite “recovering pop culture critics” and the author of The Dead Travel Fast, took a road trip to the Lexington, Virginia area to interview Mark Cline, who has fostered a reputation for himself as a bit of a roadside attraction impresario. We’ll let Nuzum take it from there: “Cline…is kind of like a modern-day P.T. Barnum. He creates fascinating roadside attractions like Dinosaur Kingdom…