As promised, here’s another update on what I was up to during my two month hiatus.

In early April I took a three day trip to Washington, DC. I love traveling to DC, which is good because my job usually requires me to go there several times a year. It just so happened that this trip overlapped with one of the few things I’ve always wanted to see in DC, the National Cherry Blossom Festival. A couple of my past trips have almost overlapped with the festival, but the cherry blossoms are pretty particular about when they want to bloom and I’ve always been out of luck.

I drove down to DC on the 4th - I always like to drive to DC because it very scenic going through the mountains of Pennsylvania - and arrived just after sunset. The peak blossom period had started a few days earlier and I knew it wouldn’t last much longer, but it was late, getting dark and I was exhausted from the drive so I decided to check them out the following day.

I went to my meeting the next morning and had the afternoon free, so I headed down to the Tidal Basin to check out the trees in all their glory. It had rained a little the night before so some of the blossoms had fallen to the ground, but the trees were still in full bloom, forming a sea of pale pink over all of the walkways. The threat of more rain and somewhat cooler temperatures had also cut down on the number of tourists, so I was able to have a much more peaceful stroll.

I walked around the Jefferson and FDR Memorials and then a path along the choppy Potomac. One Cherry tree in full bloom is beautiful, but so many, so close together is absolutely gorgeous.

My trip to the Tidal Basin was cut short when the gray skies decided to open up, knocking ever more blossoms off the trees. I sought shelter in the Jefferson Memorial for a short while and then the first chance I had I made a dash for the car.

For anyone who’s never been to Washington during the Cherry Blossom Festival I highly recommend it. Hopefully I’ll luck out and be in town for next years bloom as well.