Three years ago, Blake, my kids and I went to D.C. to see the Cherry Blossoms that we read online were in “peak bloom” (not so much).
A few days before Sunday, we saw pictures people posted online and were very hopeful that the trees would still have petals if we went. Due to Austin’s birthday party Saturday, we couldn’t go then. We had no plans for Sunday and it worked out well for us. We had the kids get their clothes out the night before and I packed the car with things we would need.
We left around 8:15, fully aware it would going to be a cold, windy and overcast. We were fortunate enough not to have any traffic into D.C. I reserved a parking spot on the SpotHero app. We drive to the street where the parking garage is located and police had both entrances to the street blocked due to a race in the area.
We pulled over to try to find another parking garage and one just happened to be a right ahead of us and only $12 for the day.
The kids played for a few minutes while we got everything out of the car.
First stop, front of the White House.
We stopped by a National Park Services tent set up and got some information about the festival and Jr. Ranger for the festival.
On our way to the Tidal Pool we stopped by the WWII memorial.
The beauty and tranquility of the Cherry Blossoms is indescribable. Even on a gloomy day, the pink and white colors shined bright. As my kids said, “It’s as if we are walking through an enchanted forest”.
***Warning***
Photo Drop Overload…..
We made a stop by the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.
I made sure to get my National Park Cancellation Stamps and pins for everyone.
We walked the kids by the Washington Monument and had to get a picture of them, mainly because Taylor was sleeping and when we came 3 years ago we have similar pictures of Austin sleeping.
We walked back to the National Mall to get lunch from one of the food trucks. We walking down the row of trucks, admiring the food each of the trucks had. The operator of a fried chicken truck gave us a large sample to try and the kids all wanted the chicken tenders from the truck. Ethan, Blake and I ate at a different food truck, Ethan had a cheeseburger and Blake and I had cheesesteaks.
We found a place to sit and I wouldn’t say, “enjoy” lunch. The food was delicious but the wind was insane. We all tried to eat with gloves on. The sun did come out but didn’t help much.
However, the sun did make for some beautiful and unique shots.
We walked to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in hopes of being able to take it in. We get to the front and the line ended up being down the entire front of the building, down the side and halfway across the back of the Smithsonian. The line was insane. I wish I would have filmed the line and measured it. Tp our surprise, today is the last day the museum was open before renovations are sent to begin.
As we got to the backside of the museum, we could see a sculpture and then we though what we felt was snow. We didn’t believe it at first but it indeed ended up being snow.
We asked the kids if they would rather go to the Natural History Museum or the American History Museum. They picked the American History Museum. We told them that we would only be able to look around for about an hour. They were fine with that and the parts of the American History Museum that we were able to see, the kids had a blast and cannot wait to go back.
A fantastic, Bucket List kind of day seeing the Cherry Blossoms at peak bloom!
Nic of Time - Travel 