DC in the Spring time

We took a little jaunt into the district today to see the Cherry Trees. They bloomed a few weeks early this year due to the warm weather and so we were excited to finally be able to see them. At first we were kind of disappointed. We were told to go to the Lincoln Memorial and look down the tidal pool and we could see the trees. Well we got there and...what? We saw trees alright but they were not cherry trees, AND they were bare.

But hey, the Tidal Pool was looking better. At least they had the concrete poured. It looks like it could be ready for water soon.

But no cherry trees..at least not there. I said darn it, this was a wasted trip. But we decided since we were already there that we should go see the Martin Luther King Memorial since it was closed last time we were there. We thought we knew where that was too and so we took a walk down by the tidal pool toward the World War II Memorial and..what? It wasn't there either.

But we were not discouraged, we added more steps. Another story...but we got a pedometer from Northrop and Virgina that counts our steps and then we track it online...long story for another day... A little more exercise...

We finally asked the Parks guy and he said..take that sidewalk right there and then go down about 100 yards and its right there. So we crossed the street and what was ahead of us? The most beautiful row of cherry trees we have seen. They were not by the Lincoln Memorial but around the Jefferson Memorial. So we took a stroll down the sidewalk and just drank in the beauty. As we rounded the corner there was the Martin Luther King Memorial.

So this is what we saw in DC. Unfortunately these pictures don't even begin to show how beautiful it really was.

The MLK Memorial was quite large and imposing and serenely looks out over the water. I am not sure if they meant for it to over look the water and if that has any meaning, but it is in a beautiful place. They have put a lot of his quotes on the wall. This was my favorite.

Luckily we got there early in the morning before the crowds. They had just started to arrive, lots of tour buses and school groups AND they were running the St Patricks Day Marathon just east of us. The whole lot of them were just preparing to come down the street as we were going home. The next few weeks in DC will be packed since the cherry blossoms will reach their peak beginning next weekend and go for only about 2 weeks, unless there is rain and then the blossoms will fall to the ground and be gone. We missed the cherry blossoms last year because we got here in May, but I am glad we got to see it this year. It was something not to miss.