Cherry Blossoms in D.C.

 Last Friday, I got up at 5:00am and drove down to D.C. to take some photos of the cherry blossoms. I was dismayed to find that all the roads around the tidal basin had been closed down for the festival, resulting in me and many others driving fruitlessly around trying to find a parking space. I was frustrated and angry that I'd driven down here and been unable to see one of our capital city's treasures. I eventually found a parking area for about 40 vehicles that hadn't been closed off down at Haine's Point but it was already full and cars were circling around hoping for someone to leave. From here it would also be about a good half mile to walk to see the blossoms, not something that the elderly or disabled would be enthusiastic about having to do.
I gave up after an hour of circling around, left D.C. and headed to work, fuming. It played on my mind over the weekend and not wanting to give up, I headed back down on Monday getting there before 6:30am. This time I headed straight for the Haines Point car park and walked back to the Tidal Basin.

 The blossoms were a little past their peak bloom but I wasn't daunted. Hey, I've got Photoshop. The water was as calm as a duck pond and not a single petal was moving. The last time I'd been down here, there had been strong bitter winds blowing the flowers down onto the choppy water.

The fallen blooms from this magnolia tree were moving constantly as grackles and robins foraged amongst them.

 The last photo here is from the Roosevelt memorial entrance. I couldn't allow myself to go further than this waterfall or I would've been another hour at least with my camera. Happy with the images I'd captured, I headed back towards the car. The city was starting to bustle and as I headed out on Rte 66 towards work, I felt pleased that I had returned and not let another year pass by without managing to see these beautiful trees.