Tidal Basin Before the Blooms

Last week I wanted to get some slow shutter photos for the 52Frames challenge this week. So we drove in to town and took a ride around East Potomac Park, and then parked by the underpass along the Anacostia River and walked over to the tidal basin. The idea was to get a helicopter traveling past the Washington monument. It was a fiasco because I don’t know anything about slow shutter photography and didn’t have the essential tripod, but the walk around the Tidal Basin was lovely. The cherry blossom buds were just starting to show signs of life compared to the near full blossoms that we saw yesterday. It’s hard to believe that such rather ugly looking trunks and limbs turn in to a magical paradise. We walked as far as the FDR Memorial, then turned back around and walked over to the Jefferson Memorial that is undergoing renovation. It was a beautiful blue skies day and perfect for this excursion. I always try to find the best day of the week to get our drive in to the city. With spring here it’s the prettiest time of the year to visit. If the crowds get too large the park police plan to close down all the cherry blossom areas in the name of social distancing. For that reason we may ride over to the US Botanical Garden. We haven’t been there since we moved to northern Virginia. The flowers don’t last very long which is why they are so inviting. Luckily there are a lot of different places to find them.