Cherry Blossoms Cruisin’

I invited my DC siblings (Debra, Chuck and Gerry) to join me on a lunch cruise to view the flowering cherry blossoms lining the Washington Channel and Potomac River in Washington, DC. The Cherry Blossom Festival connected to the blooming of these trees is a major event held during the Spring. Traffic to and from the area makes reaching activities then a major challenge that I’ve previously avoided. However, this year, I wanted to to experience the beautiful scenery and share it with the sibs.

I checked the options and discovered that there were cruises available that were specifically organized to view the trees and was able to get a reservation for a lunch cruise on a Tuesday when I hoped would give us an excellent view without the congestion that would come with any effort to drive there.

The day of the cruise was a little cool, but it was sunny enough to be able to see the blooms with no difficulty. The boat was sold out, but our reservation was for a guaranteed window-side table so that we could see the scenery while we ate lunch as well as to got out to the deck afterwards. I took several pictures both inside the boat and from its stern after we had finish lunch. Here are a few pictures:

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I also made a short video of a view of the Washington Monument from the boat:

Let me extend my bravos to the crew and staff of City Experiences. They created a wonderful experience for us, including a stupendous buffet lunch and a light but delicious cake that the wait staff brought to each of the sibs in honor of their birthdays, falling in March and April. The DJ kept a steady stream of classic R&B going (as you can hear in the background of the video). Overall, it was a two-hour experience I wouldn’t mind repeating soon. Perhaps their three-hour dinner cruise?

The rest of the pictures I took are available at http://singin1.com/piwigo/index.php?/category/83. The map at the top of the screen denotes the points where the pictures were taken, so you can get a sense of the route taken on the cruise.

We were so fortunate to have gone on Tuesday because both Wednesday and Thursday–the day I am creating this post–turned out to be rainy and dreary. I imagine it would have adversely affected the view of the shoreline and the cherry trees along the way. Finally, the Tidal Basin is scheduled to begin a 3-year construction project later this spring to stabilize the seawall for the next 100-plus years. They are anticipating the loss of 158 cherry blossoms in the process. A site, Secret DC, with more information is at https://secretdc.com/tidal-basins-sea-wall/. I don’t know if this will affect the trees along the river and channel, however.