Spring Time Equals Cherry Blossom Time
This last weekend was the peak of the cherry blossom season in Washington, DC. I took the future wife downtown to check out the scene, and brought my camera along. I took quite a few pictures, so I hope to post a few as the week goes on. Unfortunately, I am in dial-up purgatory until I move into the new house, so I only have the patience to post one or two pictures at a time.
Before I go on, I apologize for the lack of posts the last several days. Between being extremely busy at work and technical difficulties with Blogger, it has not been easy to get any posts up. I'll try to be a little better about it this week, but no guarantees.
The cherry blossom scene is one that I have little patience for anymore. I hate to start off with a negative, because the trees themselves are truly outstanding. It is the throngs of people that get on my last nerve. I fully admit, back when I worked in DC, I hated the spring. This mainly because spring is tourist season. And tourists hit the town like blinking newborns: their brains seem underdeveloped, their ability to walk like normal people stilted, and their senses of direction and common sense not yet formed. DC this weekend was a madhouse of proportions I have rarely witnessed. During the 14 years I spent living in close proximity to the Nation's Capital, I had never seen the cherry blossoms. I'm reconsidering making future plans to do so.
On a different note, one thing I always enjoyed about DC is its international character. As capital of the free world, people come from around the world to sight-see and to live. On Saturday, the area in front of Jefferson Memorial was more like the United Nations than the United States. One could walk scores of yards without hearing a single person speak English. Asians were out in force (likely by virtue of the trees having been donated to the US by the Japanese). If you ever wanted to practice your second, third, or fourth language, this was the day.
Take the crowds out of the picture, and it was a spectacular day to view the blossoms. The trees hit full bloom on Friday, and the weather through the weekend was sunny and very warm. Often the trees bloom at an inconvenient time, and the preparations for the parade and accompanying fanfare loses some of its excitement. This year, everything happened on cue, and those who made it down this weekend were treated to a pretty spectacular display of beauty.
All in all I enjoyed the experience. The crowds are something I could do without, and it seems these days they're impossible to avoid. But Mother Nature didn't disappoint. I will have photo evidence of that is the week progresses.
Before I go on, I apologize for the lack of posts the last several days. Between being extremely busy at work and technical difficulties with Blogger, it has not been easy to get any posts up. I'll try to be a little better about it this week, but no guarantees.
The cherry blossom scene is one that I have little patience for anymore. I hate to start off with a negative, because the trees themselves are truly outstanding. It is the throngs of people that get on my last nerve. I fully admit, back when I worked in DC, I hated the spring. This mainly because spring is tourist season. And tourists hit the town like blinking newborns: their brains seem underdeveloped, their ability to walk like normal people stilted, and their senses of direction and common sense not yet formed. DC this weekend was a madhouse of proportions I have rarely witnessed. During the 14 years I spent living in close proximity to the Nation's Capital, I had never seen the cherry blossoms. I'm reconsidering making future plans to do so.
On a different note, one thing I always enjoyed about DC is its international character. As capital of the free world, people come from around the world to sight-see and to live. On Saturday, the area in front of Jefferson Memorial was more like the United Nations than the United States. One could walk scores of yards without hearing a single person speak English. Asians were out in force (likely by virtue of the trees having been donated to the US by the Japanese). If you ever wanted to practice your second, third, or fourth language, this was the day.
Take the crowds out of the picture, and it was a spectacular day to view the blossoms. The trees hit full bloom on Friday, and the weather through the weekend was sunny and very warm. Often the trees bloom at an inconvenient time, and the preparations for the parade and accompanying fanfare loses some of its excitement. This year, everything happened on cue, and those who made it down this weekend were treated to a pretty spectacular display of beauty.
All in all I enjoyed the experience. The crowds are something I could do without, and it seems these days they're impossible to avoid. But Mother Nature didn't disappoint. I will have photo evidence of that is the week progresses.
posted by Mike C | 8:57 PM
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