Signs of Spring…Just Not in NH (by Christine)
Doug and I have been talking about taking in the Cherry Blossom Festival for the past couple of years. Lucky for us that our friends, Dani & Emerson, recently moved to Bethesda and were ready for house guests. The trip did not have an auspicious start: We arrived at the airport to discover that there was a two hour delay that would have got us into BWI at 1:30am or so. With just one look at each other we headed to the check in desk to rebook for Saturday morning. The bad news kept rolling in while we were waiting for our ticket change… we found out that our favorite discount airline that flies direct from New Hampshire to Columbus (Skybus) filed for bankruptcy! But that’s another topic for another day.
We arrived In DC first thing Saturday morning and headed into the city. I kept freaking Emerson out with my gasps of delight – clearly it’s been a while since I’ve seen trees with leaves and spring flowers blooming everywhere. Seeing these signs of spring lightened my heart a little and put a smile on my face. And if that hadn’t done the trick, the sight of hundreds of cherry blossom trees in bloom around the tidal basin would have.
Doug and I kept ourselves busy snapping pictures of everything and I practiced bracketing with some nice results. I just couldn’t get over how beautiful the trees are (as our memory card can attest to!). We strolled along the mall taking in the Washington Memorial, WWII Memorial, the Reflecting Pool and Tidal Basin before our stomachs started growling. The lines for food around the tidal basin were ridiculously long and we started feeling claustrophobic due to the sheer number of people so we made an executive decision to leave the masses behind. Our final destination was the National Museum of the American Indian and we ate a late lunch in the cafeteria there. The selections are inspired by indigenous foods and culinary traditions of the Native peoples of the Americas. Pretty cool!
On Sunday morning we waited for 30 minutes in the rain to get tickets to the Holocaust Memorial. I had been there before and knew that Doug would find it interesting. We spent a somber two hours touring the museum, followed by a return trip to the Tidal Basin for more photography. Then we finished our trip by dining at an excellent Ethiopian restaurant. Even Emerson was impressed by the food, so we knew it was delicious.
Click on the pictures to take you to the gallery or go to the first page here: