The Cherry Blossoms of DC

Sometimes I feel like I am blind to DC. I travel all over the world and write about my adventures, but when it comes to my own hometown, the place where I actually LIVE, this blog is mostly silent. Which is pretty ridiculous considering it’s a major city for tourists and a pretty freaking awesome place in a lot of ways that visitors don’t even know about.

So this summer I am going to write more about Washington DC. I hope to show you guys that there is a lot more to this city than the National Mall, and that it’s actually a really interesting, diverse and cultural place. So for starters I am dedicating this week to all things DC.

But first, I’ll show you flowers. One of the highlights of being in DC during the springtime is the plethora of flowering trees and bushes: azaleas, magnolias, dogwoods, daffodils and more. Then there is the crown jewel: the cherry blossoms. They actually bloom all over town- there are two in my yard, but the most beautiful and iconic ones are the National Cherry Blossoms down by the tidal basin. Given to the nation by Japan, they bloom for just about a week every year and are a major tourist attraction.

Because they only bloom for 7-10 days, there’s a very small window for appreciating the trees. This year, the year of endless winter, they bloomed very late, not until mid-April. When Mike and I first tried to go see them they were still just on the verge of bursting into bloom:

Pretty, but not quite the look we wanted. So we came back a week later and got to see them in all their glory:

He loved it
Lots of tourists

The National Floral Library next to the Tidal Basin

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