The Cherry Blossom Festival. Or, Hooray for Flowered Trees.

I’m trying something new with this post.  Instead of posting a few pictures and commenting on them, I am going to post a lot of pictures with some brief comments.  This way you get to see a lot more photos and it takes me less time to post.  Posting in this fashion allows me to add more posts to the blog.  You can click on any of the picture thumbnails to view a larger version of the photo.

On our way to the Cherry Blossoms, we stop by the Red Cross Headquarters.

Lesley in front of the Red Cross.

A view of the monument from Constitution Ave. and 15th St., on our way to the Tidal Basin.

Lesley jumping for joy in front on the monument.

Lots of people out today!

A view of the Lincoln Memorial from the World War II Memorial

Blossoms.

Ah, the lovely Tidal Basin water.

Not sure what she is laughing at here. She’s probably laughing AT me.

“Please no photos.”

On March 30, 1954, Sadao Iguchi, the Japanese Ambassador to the United States, presented a 300-year-old Japanese Stone Lantern to the City of Washington to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first Treaty of Peace, Amity and Commerce between the United States and Japan signed by Commodore Mathew Perry at Yokohama on March 31, 1854. The lantern, made of granite, is eight feet high and weighs twenty tons. The National Cherry Blossom Festival officially is opened by the lighting of the Lantern.

View of the Jefferson Memorial from the opposite side of the basin.

Plaque indicating the spot where the first Japanese Cherry Trees were planted.

Lesley with one of the first Japanese Cherry Trees planted around the Tidal Basin.

More blossoms.

More blossoms.

A nice shot of the Jefferson Memorial.

“Look, a DC Police helicopter.”

Lesley had an eye for this shot. It turned out to be quite a good picture.

Chillin’ on a Cherry Tree!

This is me. I’m not happy. I’m being photographed.

Lesley taking a shot of me with her Blackberry’s camera.

This is the picture Lesley took with her Blackberry’s camera.

I don’t know these people. But they were having a good time paddle-boating.

We saw a big, furry dog. What does that mean…?

It means that Lesley is going to say hi to it, as it submerges it’s head in a bowl of water.

Interesting…

This was our park ranger. He was telling us about the cherry tree history and how we are now part of history (because we were looking at the trees).

Lesley was paying attention to the park ranger. He was a very good public speaker.

Doggie, doggie, doggie…

Les and FDR, at the FDR memorial – which was in the middle of the cherry trees. This memorial has five or six large “rooms,” including one room for each of his four terms as president.

A wider shot of Lesley and FDR. Don’t they make a cute couple? After we took this shoot, an older gentlemen said, “Don’t you know he’s a married man?” Funny!

One of three or four water falls/pools at the FDR memorial!

I liked this shot of the blossoms, but these are not cherry blossoms.

Admired by thousands each year, the Japanese Pagoda arrived in Washington, not as a gift from one nation to another, but as a gift from one man to another. In 1957, Ryozo Hiranuma, the Mayor of Yokohama and a visitor to Washington, DC four years prior, gave this pagoda to former District Commissioner Renah Camalier. However, Camalier felt the gift belonged to the people of the District of Columbia and placed it among the Japanese cherry trees. A year later, on April 21, 1958, the pagoda was dedicated as a gift from Japan to the United States. The 3,800 pound pagoda arrived in five crates, without assembly instructions. Reconstruction required assistance from the Library of Congress staff. Though its age is unknown, the design and the four seated Buddhas carved on the base are consistent with the Kamakura period (1192–1333).

The area around the tidal basin is sinking, including the Jefferson Memorial. This shot is of a park bench that used to be along the edge of the basin.

Les and the Washington Monument. Dan Brown would be proud!

She’s got the whole monument, in her hands.

Quite the facial expression.

A parting shot. We’re on the mall, headed towards Gordon Biersch (and the Capital Building).

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