Cherry Blossom Festival

Spring is here!

Every year, for a period of about two weeks, millions of tourists from all over the world flock down to the DC area to watch the annual cherry blossom festival. They have been in DC since 1912, when Japan sent more than 3,000 cherry trees as a symbol of friendship. DC residents quickly fell in love with the pink and white blossoms, and so did the tourists.

Photographers love taking pictures of the cherry blossoms with the monuments in the background. Of course, I joined right in. This is the Thomas Jefferson Memorial -- more about that later.

Armed with a podcast from the Washington Post, with fun facts about the blossoms, we started our tour of the tidal basin. The plan was to go out on the water with a paddle boat, but because of the fierce winds they weren't letting people on the water initially.

Our first stop: the tulip library! Although planted by the National Park Service, the tulips (more than a 100 different varieties) are imported from the Netherlands. Unfortunately, it was too early for most of the tulips to bloom, but apparently it's quite nice when you get there at the right time.

Pretty in pink!

Another DC landmark; Washington Monument, also known as the obelisk.

Our tour led us part the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial (here pictured with his dog Fala), where somehow I'd never been!

The FDR Memorial is one of the largest in the area and quite enjoyable to walk through with all its waterfalls.

The memorial is dvided in 5 different rooms, that follow the timeline of FDR's presidency. I believe this wall sculpture shows his inauguration.

This sculpture depicts people waiting in line for bread during the Great Depression. Once sworn into office, FDR quickly set to work to boost the economy and create jobs with a now famous program known as the New Deal.

Time to see some more cherry blossoms. I love the reflection of the blossoms in the puddle!

A beautiful overview of the trees near the Jefferson Memorial.

Another memorial I'd never visited before: the George Mason Memorial. It's nice, but a bit of a let down after the grandeur of the FDR Memorial.

Another angle.

Inside of the Jefferson Memorial.

Here you can clearly see some of the neo-classical architecture that's prevalent in DC.

After completing our loop around the tidal basin, we hop on the free shuttle around East Potomac Park. We'd plan to get off at a couple of the stops, walk around, take some pictures, then get back on, but after walking all day on my banged up knee, it's really nice to sit and enjoy the scenery and we end up riding all the way to the second last stop. The picture above was taken in the Park, where trees line both sides of the street.

This is what they look like up close.

Rather than wait half an hour for the next bus we decide to walk back to the mall and I ended up taking this picture of the Washington Monument across the Washington Channel. Not an angle you see very often.

For dinner we head to Chef Geoff's, a restaurant that came highly recommended on a Dutch forum I belong to. The restaurant is located on Freedom Plaza, with the beautiful statue of Brigadier Casimir Pulaski. It's a favorite hang out for local skaters ... if you have a few minutes to spare it's nice to sit and watch them do their tricks.

Anyway, dinner was great! Our favorite were the Buffalo mozarella risoto balls! Hmm so good ... I could've eaten 10 of them.

At night the National Park Service holds free lantern walks among the cherry blossoms and I'd really been looking forward to it. We almost joined a tour during the afternoon, but decided it would be too much to do both ... well, after walking all day anyway my knee was just done, plus it was getting chilly, so we decided to call it a day.

People relaxing on the grass, with the Capitol and the Smithsonian in the background.

Sunset

Trip Summary:

Rating: 7.5/10

Distance: 0 mi

Time spent: 7 hours

Entrance fees: free

More information: http://www.nationalcherryblossomfestival.org/

Great Falls and Manassas Battlefield Park

After the somewhat disappointing visit to Antietam, we decided to pay another visit to our favorite battlefield park. With rolling acres as far as the eye can see and relatively few roads crossing the park Manassas is in my opinion a lot nicer ... although I will say the visitors center doesn't come close to the one in Antietam.

Anyway, first we make a quick stop at Great Falls ... another National Park. It's a favorite with local rock climbing enthusiasts.

You won't see me scaling those rocks anytime soon, but I can't resist this fallen tree leading to a small island in the river.

I'm embarrassed to admit that I managed to trip over my own feet on a graded section of the gravel trail to the first overlook and take a chunk out of my knee. Didn't look too bad, but I'd hate to make someone queasy, hence the picture of it bandaged up.

At least the view is worth it!  

We make it to viewpoint three without getting my knee looked at, but at this point I'm starting to scare small children so we head to the visitors center to get it cleaned. The woman at the front desk takes one look at my knee and decides that the first aid kit is not going to cut it and she calls a park ranger to take care of me. Can't remember her name, but she told me all kinds of good stories about people doing stupid stuff haha!

I'm all bandaged up so we get back on the road to Manassas.

I love this place!

We'd love to watch a civil war reenactment sometime, but somehow we always miss them. They actually had one the day we were there, but it was long over by the time we got there ... we did see these people in period clothing hanging out. Pretty neat!

Wooden Henry House has been recently renovated.

Beautiful clearing. My knee's throbbing a bit, but I push on and we end up going for a long walk through the woods.

Deeper in the woods it's hard to tell that spring has arrived.

And we're back!

We get back in the car and drive across the road to Chinn Ridge. Pictured here is the Benjamin Chinn house site, but not much is left of it.

Hey, what's that?! 7 Deer in the clearing

Trip summary:

Rating: 8.5/10

Distance: 43 mi (Great Falls 17 mi ; Manassas 27 mi)

Time spent: 8 hours

Entrance fees:  Great Falls: $5 per car; or $3 per person - Manassas Battlefield: $3 per person

More information:

http://www.nps.gov/grfa/

http://www.nps.gov/mana/

Antietam

It's a nice sunny day in March when we make our way to Antietam. Located near the small town of Sharpsburg, this battlefield was once the site of the bloodiest day of battle during the civil war.

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The best way to visit Antietam is by driving the 8.5 mi self-guided tour. There are 11 clearly marked stops along the way.

The first stop is Dunker Church, here seen in the distance behind the cannons.

A view down Cornfield Avenue ... many lives were lost on both sides of the battle in the cornfield on the left side of the road. The statues lining the road are memorials sent by the different states to commemorate the battalions of fallen soldiers.

 

I noticed a family of groundhogs living near an old (working) farm. This one's just crawling out of its burrow. 

Mumma cemetry. Located near Mumma Farm, the only property that was deliberately destroyed in the war.

View from the cemetery's far wall

We go for a short walk along the Bloody Lane Trail. The fencing in the picture is typical for the civil war era and can be seen in many of the nation's battlefield parks.

Sunken Road, also known as Bloody Lane. For three hours the greatly outnumbered confederates were able to hold off the union soldiers, until finally the line collapsed ...

Observation Tower. There's a great overview of the battlefield if you take the stairs to the top.

Cornfields with the mountains in the distance.

My favorite spot in Antietam; Lower Bridge, also known as Burnside Bridge. One of the three main bridges crossing Antietam Creek.

Crossing the bridge. We decided to walk the short Union Advance Trail -- a bit hilly, but really a nice short hike with great views of the river below.

It led to this rope swing down by the creek. I can't tell you how much I wanted to swing out over the water and let go ... but unfortunately, it's just not that warm in March and the water was freezing.

Yes I tested the water! How else would I know the water was so cold? I dipped down as far as I could without getting my shorts wet and still hadn't hit the bottom. Perfect spot for swinging in the summer I'd say!

Just a random picture of the hillside.

Poor little groundhog! He was already dead when we found him, but I didn't see any obvious injuries

 so I thought it would be nice to show you what they look like up close.

 

Time for the last stop on the tour: Antietam National Cemetery.

Somewhat reminiscent of Arlington National Cemetery with its neat rows of headstones. There's actually a privately owned cemetery across that street with a lot more personality ... worth a visit if you enjoy that kind of thing.

One last look at the battlefields of Antietam, then it's time to head home.

 

We drove past this beautiful traditional red barn on our way home. 

 

The cows must've thought I brought treats. They came right over when I got out of the car. So cute!

Don't you love this house?! It's all fake.

Trip summary:

Rating: 6/10

Distance: 70 mi

Time spent: 5 hours

Entrance fees: $4 per person; or $6 per family

More information: http://www.nps.gov/anti/