National Cherry Blossom Festival 2008

I complain a lot about where we live and how there is "nothing" to do, and that is true of the little town we live in, however, since we live about an hour away from our nation's capitol, it makes things accessible to us that never would have been had we stayed in Indiana. Yesterday, after church we decided to drive into the Dunn Loring Metro station and take it into Washington to see the cherry blossoms. The weather was not all that great. The temperature was hovering around 45 degrees or so, and the sky was mostly gray. That did not seem to detract from the festival though. There were thousands of people out and about! The cherry blossoms looked to be at their peak and were astoundingly beautiful. We all gave the blossoms a "10" rating. The food, gifts and activties were another story. There was nothing really special being offered. We were chilly, and wanted a snack and ended up with french fries and water--not really anything to write home about. As far as activities, not much going on. There were some musical groups on a stage at the front of the Jefferson Memorial, but there was nothing playing that captured our attention for very long. There were some people flying kites, which would have been a fun thing to do, and it would have been really cool if you could purchase commemorative Cherry Blossom Fesitval kites to fly, but nothing other than the usual t-shirts, pens and key rings were available. So, all in all, if you get the chance to see the spectacle of the cherry blossoms around the Tidal Basin, by all means, go. . . you will not be disappointed, but don't go there thinking you will be getting a lot of good entertainment or good food, it just isn't there.