In Bloom

I figure there is no way a blog written by four DCers (and one former District resident) can fail to mention the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

For those unaware, every year thousands of people travel to Washington to attend the National Cherry Blossom Festival. The Festival is a celebration of the 3000+ cherry blossom trees given to DC by Japan in 1912. Although these trees are scattered around the city and some suburbs, most are at the Tidal Basin. They are in full bloom for about two weeks, this year beginning on March 31 (that's Saturday).

Last year Isaac told me that the cherry blossoms were best seen at dawn, so Gobo, Gobo's sister and I went to the Tidal Basin at about 7 a.m. (I was not happy about this). And Isaac was right, in part because going at dawn meant the crowd was minimal. Would I travel thousands of miles to see the trees (as some apparently do)? No. But driving five minutes wasn't so bad. And I got some really nice photos (included in this post).

In addition to actually viewing the trees, there are events that occur throughout the two-week period, including a parade and tons of cherry-related food specials at top DC restaurants (including an all-you-can-eat sushi extravaganza for only $35, which you must e-mail me about if you want more information, because I can't post about it on a public blog, for fear of the lines becoming even longer than they already are (and yes, I do attend, even though I am a vegetarian and thus don't eat fish--I stick to the veggie sushi)). So if you're interested, you have two weeks to head out to the Tidal Basin for a view!