(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "OUR DELAWARE")
RICK PICKREN: (Singing) Oh, our Delaware, our beloved Delaware.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Today's diplomatic place to see and be seen by dignitaries - Wilmington, Del.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "OUR DELAWARE")
PICKREN: (Singing) Our beloved Delaware.
SIMON: President Biden hosts the leaders of India, Japan and Australia at the Quad Summit today. We can't confirm whether or not they have left time in the schedule to sightsee, but let's take a tour of some of what they'd miss staying in a musty old conference room.
DAN SHORTRIDGE: The first thing you need to know is that Delaware is very, very small, but we pack a big punch.
SIMON: Dan Shortridge and Rachel Kipp are the husband-and-wife team behind the travel guides "Secret Delaware" and "100 Things to Do In Delaware Before You Die." (Impersonating tour guide) At just 96 miles long and 39 miles at its widest, Delaware is the second smallest state in the nation. Rachel Kipp likes to say it's really more of a community.
RACHEL KIPP: It's not unusual to run into or to be working out next to your congressional person at the YMCA. For example, Tom Carper, who's about to retire as senator of Delaware - I run into him at the fish counter.
SIMON: And if the prime ministers of Australia, Japan and India want to break out for a snack, Rachel Kipp recommends Capriotti's and their Hot Bobbie.
KIPP: Basically, Thanksgiving on a sandwich - it's got cranberry relish. It's got turkey. It's got stuffing. It packs quite a carb punch. But Joe is a big fan of Capriotti's.
SIMON: That's Joe Biden, B-I-D-E-N. One perk of being a resident of Delaware is you can be on a first-name basis with the president. There's another culinary specialty that Dan Shortridge insists belongs to Delaware. Sorry, Pennsylvania.
SHORTRIDGE: It's been said that scrapple is made of everything from the pig except for the squeal. It comes in loaves. You slice it off and then fry it up.
SIMON: The largest producer of scrapple in the world is based in Delaware. Well, where else? The Apple Scrapple Festival is held next month, and Dan Shortridge says there are cooking demonstrations.
SHORTRIDGE: I like mine really, really crispy with a slice of American cheese. You can have it as a sandwich. Some people prefer ketchup, other people maple syrup.
SIMON: Time in the schedule for souvenir shopping? You know, there's no sales tax in Delaware. And if President Biden gives his colleagues a whole afternoon off, maybe they'd like to head to the beach, maybe Rehoboth - home of Funland, an amusement park where - oh, you never know, maybe you run into Aubrey Plaza, an actor most famous for being from Delaware and, of course, for playing April in the sitcom "Parks And Rec."
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "PARKS AND RECREATION")
AUBREY PLAZA: (As April Ludgate) Is this going to be one of those cool bachelorette parties where things get out of control and we murder someone, and then we all have to take a blood oath to never reveal our secret?
RASHIDA JONES: (As Ann Perkins) No.
PLAZA: (As April Ludgate) Then I might have to leave early.
SIMON: And even if you're not from Delaware - Joe Biden, for example, was born in Pennsylvania - Rachel Kipp says they welcome newcomers.
KIPP: Delaware will quickly adopt you as one of its own. One of the people that that happened to was actually Bob Marley.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NIGHT SHIFT")
BOB MARLEY AND THE WAILERS: (Singing) All night. It's all right.
SIMON: Yes, reggae god Bob Marley, who was born in Jamaica but lived in Delaware for a stint in the 1960s.
KIPP: For a time, he even worked at the Chrysler plant. It's actually mentioned in one of his songs he was a forklift driver.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NIGHT SHIFT")
BOB MARLEY AND THE WAILERS: (Singing) Working on a night shift with the forklift.
SIMON: A great end to a day full of scrapple, beaches and tax-free shopping and maybe some tough negotiations and diplomacy - maybe a sunset visit to One Love Park, Delaware's tribute to its most famous musical son.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ONE LOVE")
BOB MARLEY AND THE WAILERS: (Singing) One love. One heart. Let's get together and feel all right. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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