US Botanic Garden Christmas Trains and Pollinators

Every year we visit the US Botanic Garden Christmas trains. Our grandson was three years old when we moved to DC seventeen years ago. Now he is twenty and lives in the middle of Virginia and a junior at UVA. The train display was always indoors - which made for a cramped space. But since the pandemic the displays have moved outdoors. It’s so much nicer for crowd management and has the same aura. This year the theme was pollinators and their plants/flowers - all of which are made out of plant material. To avoid the weekend and holiday crowds we visited yesterday. It was a great day for the trip in to town. We parked just down the street and walked through the outdoor garden. It wasn’t busy at all when we arrived, but started having more and more visitors as the time passed - especially nannies with their kids, and school groups. The only drawback is that the Christmas lights are not on. But I don’t think anyone really minds. There is just something about trains and kids - and even grownups. Of course we liked it even better when we could just walk over from our condo on Capitol Hill. But at least we still live close enough to drive in for not only these special times, but usually once a week for a morning walk. I’m sure we will be back in town again over the next few weeks. It’s always so very pleasant.