In a bout of spontaneous adventurism, at about noon today I decided to go to the Cherry Blossom Festival in the city. I believe the idea percolated into my mind at about the same time I looked out my window and saw the perfect clear sapphire blue of the sky. So I packed my backpack with a few essentials and set off to answer the sudden flush of wanderlust.
Today (March 26, 2011) was the official first day of the festival. The air was clear, the wind was crisp, and the sun gloriously warm. When I had come last time (in 2009) it was rainy, windy and cold and not nearly as nice. I think having the festival’s beginning coincide with a legitimately nice day upset the precedent of years of past festivals. 
You don’t really notice the sheer number of flowering trees there are planted in DC until you come at this particular time of year. Whole forests of them cover random corners of the Mall and around the Tidal Basin in a billowing blanket of pink and white.
Forests of white
All in all it was a merry adventure of the type that leaves you tired but feeling very satisfied with your day. On trips such as these I tend to take an abundance of pictures. Below are some of my favorites.
A yellow daffodil near the Tidal Basin
Playing with the focus
Jefferson Memorial wreathed in blossoms
Pretty and pink
These flowers are actually very tiny, about the size of my pinky fingernail
Standing alone amongst evergreens
The light within
Highway to the sky
Late blossoms, no doubt waiting for the perfect moment to open
"Popcorn popping on the apricot tree..."
The sight between columns of the Jefferson Memorial
Even tinier flowers, these grew in wide patches everywhere in the grass
I am not sure why I like this photo so much (maybe it is the ducks), but it is one of my favorites
A silent bridge with a blanket of dangling flowes
Close up of spring time
Crazy tree on the mall
Illuminated
Tower of light
