Cherry Blossom Festival in DC

[mnhtnbb]

My husband and I are here for the weekend as kind of an un-birthday trip. I've never seen the cherry trees
in bloom in DC, so a couple of weeks ago we planned to come up this weekend.

I was at the Tidal Basin by 8 am this morning and it was already crowded! I walked ALL the way around it.

A few of my favorite shots:



Admiring the trees

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Jefferson Memorial with a Bonus! (Can you spot it?)

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Another view of the Jefferson Memorial

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Trees at the FDR Memorial

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MLK, Jr. Memorial

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[fizzgig]

1. very lovely

looks like a great time

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. Happy unBirthday, my dear mnhtnbb!

These are lovely...

And wow, the crowds!

[Little Star]

3. Beautiful!....

I've always wanted to visit & see the cherry blossoms. Some day maybe I'll make it

[mnhtnbb]

8. When I'm 64...that's how long it took me!

[handmade34]

4. Oh, lovely

I love DC and it is a treat to be reminded of its beauty

[elleng]

5. The bonus: Plane from WASHINGTON's NATIONAL Airport!

GREAT pics, and amazing you got there so early.

CONGRATS! And I'm glad you got such a good day. Tomorrow for me.

[mnhtnbb]

6. Which makes it the Jefferson Airplane!

[elleng]

11. Ah YES, DEFINITELY the Jefferson Airplane!!!

[mnhtnbb]

7. Have fun! Hope you get there early. It was REALLY crowded!

[elleng]

10. Thanks. It WON'T be early,

already it's not. I know how crowded it gets, I try to go every year, it's a few blocks from my old office and today taking Metro rail to Smithsonian. Charging camera battery now.

[elleng]

12. MORE CROWDED than I've EVER seen it, bb,

probably due the confluence of: Cherry Blossom Parade Saturday, Peak Bloom Friday/Saturday, WEEKEND, + PERFECT weather! I walked a couple of miles (NOT as much as you did,) but decided not to elbow my way through the crowd TO the Tidal Basin. DID get a picture of my old office, next to Federal Triangle Metro. Returned via Smithsonian Metro station. QUITE a day! Glad I did it, but I'm sorry I didn't make it TO Tidal Basin. VERY glad you did!

[catbyte]

14. Could be because of Spring Break for a lot of schools. Our schools in MI plan trips around this time

I couldn't believe all of the tour buses parked around the Lincoln Memorial & Smithsonian on Wednesday & Thursday. I always wanted to go to the Museum of the American Indian, but it was just too crowded to appreciate it. It requires a LOT of reading & I really couldn't get close enough to read things. The architecture is spectacular, though.

[mnhtnbb]

17. The friend I met for lunch on Saturday lives in Fairfax. Her husband had work that morning

but wanted to come back in the late afternoon for a picnic supper under the cherry trees.
She said they WALKED from Arlington Cemetery to the Tidal Basin--almost 2 miles--then
up to the White House! Yikes!

She also said her son usually can get out of town in about 5 minutes and on Saturday
it took him an hour! Traffic was horrible.

The concierge at our hotel told me--while I was waiting for husband to bring his suitcase down
to check out--the final weekend of Cherry Blossom Festival is always their busiest weekend
the entire year at their hotel...and that the past three weeks of spring vacations are their
busiest period in the year due to all the trips made by parents with school age kids.

I certainly have never seen so many people in DC, except en masse the time I went to
attend one of the Iraq War protests.

[elleng]

19. Metro was AMAZINGLY crowded, bb, NEVER seen it like that on a Sunday!

Everyone was nice, good, and kind, a pleasure to hang with We the People!!! (But the litter was AWFUL!)

[Mz Pip]

9. Beautiful.

DC is on my bucket list. One of these years I'll get there.

[catbyte]

13. My sweetie and I were there on Thursday. It was cloudy, but the blossoms were beautiful. We walked

from the Lincoln memorial to the Vietnam & Korean memorials to the MLK memorial to the FDR memorial, & around the basin to the Jefferson, Washington monument, WWII memorial to pay respects to my dear, late Marine dad, then back to the Lincoln. We are in PA now on our way back to MI. It was an awesome trip to DC.

[mnhtnbb]

18. I took the reverse route from Smithsonian metro stop

past the Washington Monument around the Tidal Basin--Jefferson, FDR, MLK, Jr. Memorials
and then to the Lincoln Memorial and up 23rd St. past State Dept. to Foggy Bottom
metro stop to meet my friend for brunch. Our hotel was about a 10 minute walk
from where we had brunch. So, my feet were pooped by the afternoon!

I have seen all the war memorials on other trips.

[Lucky Luciano]

15. I wanted to go last weekend when I had 3 days off with good Friday.

We canned it because Sakura was going to be late due to the cold winter. We went to the Baltimore Aquarium and Philadelphia instead.

I have still never seen Sakura in DC!

At least I have seen it in Kyoto!!

[appalachiablue]

16. Beautiful! Thanks-

[Solly Mack]

20. Sweet!