Country Life = a City Weekend

As promised, I'm posting photos that show why I closed the shop last weekend.

 Does this give you a clue?

How about this one? Does this help?

If you've never been there, you should make every effort

to go to Washington DC while the cherry blossoms are blooming.

We went, along with a few thousand of our closest friends.

Well, actually, there were just 6 of us.

But everywhere we went, everyone else went too.

Or so it seemed.

As usual, Jessica and Brian were great tour guides.

It's very handy to have family who live and work in tourist spots!

About to be married Kevin and Katie found a heart shaped cherry tree.

Hey! What are you two doing back there?

It was a drizzly day, so as the cherry blossoms fell, they stuck to everything.

I wish I had a picture of the car at the Metro Station that was plastered with blossoms.

From a distance, it looked like it was covered with pink snow.

Speaking of the Metro Station, it was Katie's first experience with it.

Let's just say she does not envy Brian's daily hour commute by subway.

I have a fascination with tree trunks.

Cherry blossoms nestled among the roots is an added bonus.

These trees are the oldest of the ones planted next to the Tidal Basin.

The very ones that were presented to Washington by the Japanese

as a gesture of friendship and goodwill on March 27, 1912.

According to our tour guide Brian, the trees normally only live for 50 years.

These trees are celebrating their 100th birthday!

We've toured DC on clear days, in perfect weather.

But even on a cloudy, rainy day, the Washington Monument is breathtaking.

Since we have all seen DC before,

and since it was raining,

and since our thousands of friends were taking in the sights,

we decided to skip most of the monuments on this trip.

But Jessica and Brian did want us to see the Old Post Office.

Or rather, they wanted us to go up 315 feet into the Clock Tower.

They said the only other place to get that view of DC is the Washington Monument.

But it is currently closed due to damage from last summers earthquake.

Because it was rainy, the view wasn't clear.

But the Lincoln Memorial was still impressive.

And how cool is it to look down the street and see our nation's Capitol?

Anytime you're in DC, expect to walk.

And walk.

And walk.

They took us to a restaurant that Brian said was a quarter mile or so away.

Uh huh.

We know a quarter mile, and that dear Brian was no quarter mile.

But anyway....it was fun.

And so was the Natural History Museum.

And the American History Museum

where we saw this poor guy with his aching back.

We know just how you feel good sir.

DC is truly a wonderful place to visit.

Every American should try to see it at least once.

There's so much to see and do!

You could spend weeks trying to see it all.

And it's all free for the viewing!