Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival:

On Saturday I took the metro into D.C. and went to the annual Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival.  I’ve been going for the past four or five years to just this festival, but this year we decided to also go to the actually cherry blossoms.

The cherry blossoms trees were a gift in 1912.  The Japanese mayor, Yukio Ozaki, gifted 3,000 trees to the U.S. to celebrate friendship.  There are now 3,750 trees with 16 different variations. 

You can visit the cherry blossom trees any time in April.  The National Park Service try to have the trees bloom around April 4^th, but sometimes the weather doesn’t allow that.  The street festival is planned around when the trees are mostly in bloom so that you can make a day of it all. 

Waiting in line for some food

My sister's chicken teriyaki chicken.  (So yummy)

My Thai tea.  (So delicious) 

The street festival this year was on Saturday, and luckily this year the weather was perfect.  I’ve been when the humidity was super high, and I’ve been when it was raining.  Saturday was perfect with a high of 77 and breezy.  While there, I got my usual chicken on a stick and Thai tea.  If you get the chicken freshly off of the grill, it’s perfect and the tea is so delicious, perfect amount of sweet and tea.  I actually have a recipe for Thai tea that I’m hoping is exactly what I get at the festival, so I can have it more than once a year.
Since I go every year, I know exactly what every table has (except for jewelry tables…) and I typically don’t buy anything.  My sister bought a new cell phone charm and a  Kimmidoll, and my mom bought a necklace and earrings set.

After we were all done looking we decided to get onto the metro an go to the actual trees.  We walked past the Washington Monument, (which was damaged by an earthquake we had a few years ago) and we walked all the way to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial.  I didn’t actually go into the monument, because I had been more recently than my mom and sister, but they went all the way up and in.

Jefferson Memorial  

Washington Monument

We then went back to the metro and went home. 

It was a long, but beautiful day and I’m hoping to soon go back.  I live just a metro trip away from so much, so much free stuff, that I need to start taking advantage. 

xx