Spring in D.C.

We were pleasantly surprised to find the cherry blossoms in full bloom while we were in D.C. We hadn't planned our trip around the flowers, it just happened to coincide with the most amazing weather and spring blossoms. I was sure we were at least a couple of weeks early, but we arrived right in time for the grand show. I loved it!

Walking up to the Capitol Building on our first day we saw a robin, our first one of the season. It's never officially spring for me until I've seen my first robin. The appearance of this little guy was a sign of the beauty we would experience over the next four days.

Each day the temperature stayed in the 70's. We even got a little sunburned the first day because we forgot to put on sunscreen before leaving the hotel. We only needed a jacket Friday night, because it rained a bit while we were out. They were more to protect our cameras from the moisture than to keep us warm.

Everywhere we went, fluffy canopies of fragrant, snowy white to pale pink blooms accentuated the bright blue sky. More than once we walked through a shower of fluttering petals falling downward as the breeze loosened them from the tree's branches. I told Brian during one such "snowstorm" that it felt like we were in a scene from a Disney movie! It was candy to my eyes. The air was full of the flowers' perfume as well, and I found myself frequently stopping to close my eyes and inhale the sweet scent.

Along with the cherry blossoms, we enjoyed the many magnolia trees displaying their showy flowers. These beauties were also very fragrant, and I took many detours along our pre-arranged routes to look at, photograph, smell, and touch them.

When we weren't being dazzled by the flowering trees or awed by the grandiose monuments and memorials, we delighted in the other signs of spring. Washington D.C.'s flower beds were full of new spring color as well. I fell in love with these purple tulips.

How gorgeous is this daffodil?! I've never seen a daffodil like this before, but instantly decided that my future yard will be full of them!

And we can't forget the grape hyacinth's. These little guys created adorable carpets of blue along many of the city's sidewalks.

I found planters and beds full of pansies surrounding one of the hotels we walked past on the way back to ours each day. Their little cheerful faces made me smile every time we walked past. When I worked at the nursery in Idaho Falls, Idaho, pansies were some of the first blooming plants we would get in each spring. I always thought that they were such happy looking flowers.

The day after we arrived back home in NY, I was out running errands and noticed that the spring flowers were starting to open. The trees and bulbs are well on their way to full bloom now. I feel like I was able to cheat Mother Nature and squeeze an extra week out of spring with our trip down south. I enjoyed the flowers so much last week, and now I get to enjoy them all over again here at home. It's going to be a beautiful Easter Weekend!