Finally Catching the Cherry Blossoms

With lots of family and friends that live in the Washington, D.C., area, we have made so many trips there, I’ve lost count, especially since our oldest now lives there. Several of those trips have been attempts to see the cherry blossoms at peak bloom–not just a tree or two, but the entire tidal basin.

This year was attempt number four in over a decade of attempts, and, in spite of jury duty and doctor’s appointments coming due, we managed to block off a whole week to be up there, and we were finally successful! We did ditch the RV and opted to stay with family, but you can find RV parks within an hour of the city, and some even offer busses to downtown, then you can use the metro or uber around.

If you’re not familiar with the cherry blossoms, they are when the trees that line the tidal basin area near the Mall and Jefferson Memorial. The Emperor of Japan gifted just over 3,000 trees to the U.S. in 1912 as a symbol of friendship, and they were planted March 27th of that year. The trees are in full blooms of white and pink, depending on which of the three species of tree you are seeing, and look spectacular. Peak is considered to be when 70% or more of the trees are in bloom.

There is so much to see and do around the area with all the government buildings, museums and the zoo. We also love exploring Alexandria and Arlington, just over the bridge from DC. We always find new places to try and explore. This time, in addition to the zoo and some favorite museums, we also explored a bit of downtown Alexandria and tried a new to us restaurant (Daniel O’Connell’s Irish Restaurant and Bar and we tried the appetizer sampler), while also enjoying the river front, architecture, and seeking out trees in the area.

There is an annual festival that runs for several weeks, in hopes of overlapping the peak blooms. For those not in the area, there are websites and social media pages dedicated to tracking and reporting it’s progress. It’s such a small window (a few days!) and can vary by several weeks, depending on temperatures, sun, and rain, so it can be difficult to catch it. There is also a similar festival in Japan around the same time.

This small window is why it has been so difficult for us to catch it in the past. On this trip, it was Thursday/Friday before we knew that peak bloom was going to be on Saturday, so we planned a Sunrise and Donuts day (a Finding Our Someday/FOS Crew thing) with the kids and were there at 6AM.

We were so glad we did, since there was already a crowd of people. We watched the city come alive for a bit at Jefferson Memorial, enjoying the beautiful view of the Washington Monument, then started walking around the basin as the sun was coming up. Sadly, it was an overcast morning, so we didn’t have great light, nor could we see the partial solar eclipse, but it was still amazing.

We found a great spot to enjoy our donuts under the trees as the sun came up and were treated to some entertaining people watching. The crowds grew quickly, so we didn’t stay much longer. It truly was a special experience to enjoy with my kids together–something we don’t get often now that our oldest is grown. By Monday evening, most of the blooms were gone from the wind, heat and rain!

If this is something on your list, some helpful tips: be flexible on dates or know that you may miss them, go early since it does get very crowded, be patient since everyone wants to see them and get those great photos, a blanket and picnic is a great way to enjoy, alcohol is not permitted, so no traditional sake under the blooms (much to BJ’s disappointment), and there are lots of places to see them, but the tidal basin is the most concentrated, and what you see in movies. Next on our bucket list is to see them in Japan. Who knows when that will be, but a girl can dream!