Every so often, something reminds me how much I love DC. This past week, it was the cherry blossoms in bloom. This area is absolutely BEAUTIFUL in the Spring. I was heading downtown to a meeting last week, and decided to drive down Rock Creek Parkway and take the back roads around the Tidal Basin to hop on Independence Ave and then cut over to 12th Street to get to the Department of Education. On a normal day, as every local Washingtonian knows, this back-road route is always the fastest way through town. Except when the cherry blossoms are in bloom (or some other major event is happening on the mall). Well, last week was the start of the Cherry Blossom Festival – and one of the most bone-headed times to drive through the Tidal Basin. As is par for the course with me, I was totally oblivious to the date and the time of year, and I drove right into the heart of the Cherry Blossom Festival without even a thought.

And yet . . . I’m so glad I did it! I drove through just early enough in the day that the traffic was heavy, but not gridlocked. The trees were in full bloom, and the drive was stunningly gorgeous. I love how the beautiful cherry blossom trees frame the monuments. The city comes alive with the pink-tinged accents. I rolled down my windows and enjoyed the warm weather and beautiful scents from the trees. I couldn’t stop beaming. When I lived in New York, the world was always grey . . . the sidewalks, the buildings, everything. I used to feel “color deprived” living there – I never saw signs of nature (and living down in the village, the trek up to Central Park was just too much). I remember coming home in the spring, and flying over the monuments to land, and seeing the cherry blossoms. I remember driving down the cherry blossom lined street to my parents’ house on the way back from the airport and just beaming with sheer joy to see such magnificence and beauty, and I remember how the colors just jumped out at me – it was as if I had stepped out of a black-and-white photo and into color. There is something so elegantly joyous about cherry blossom trees . . . and magnolias . . . and this time of year, nearly every street and neighborhood is painted pink. Hundreds and hundreds of shades of pink. There is the soft almost white pink from some varieties of trees, and the truly rich girly-girl pink of other trees, and the bright hot-pink that the magnolias bring to the mix. Add in a splash of hydrangea and azalea, and well . . . we are living in a pink Spring wonderland.

Today as we drove out to Hyattsville for an art exhibit, we enjoyed even more spring beauty. Every day, I have been looking forward to my morning walks with Nugget, just so I can see how many more trees are now in bloom. This is my favorite time of year, and there is no better place to enjoy Spring than in Washington, DC. It reminds me how lucky we are to live here.

My friend Tammy is coming down for a visit this weekend, and I can’t wait to show off Washington in bloom. It will also be Micah’s first trip on the metro, and I’m so excited to wander around the monuments with him. I truly love DC – it is fast-paced when you need, slow and lazy and suburban at the same time, full of culture and opportunities and politics and energy, and in 20 minutes you can be in the middle of the country, or enjoying picking your own berries at a local farm. I hope one day Micah appreciates this crazy place as much as I do!