After welcoming Spring, my kickoff to the season for the last few years has been keeping track of the blossoms downtown DC to partake in the Cherry Blossoms. Ever since 2019, I've been taking advantage of being closer than those who travel far to get a glimpse n walk the Tidal Basin to experience our gift from then Mayor Yukio Ozaki in 1912 of blooms. This year...it sprung up on me earlier than expected but nonetheless, I pivoted to make my tradition carry on.
Due to us having warmer weather at the beginning of March, the stages accelerated n we ended up peaking a week before I expected. Yall..I stay close to the news in preparation (feel free to scour through previous CB posts) and I was already planning out the outfits along with the day n time becuz there's such a science to capturing the "perfect" moment so when it came early it was a life happens moment. Why? Becuz even though I'm close, I don't live down the street and I also have a JOB, lol. I stay away from DC on a regular weekend and KNOW it would be a challenge to squeeze this year in....oh...and let's not forget the major factor of the weather. We went from a preview to Spring with 70 degrees back to SIKE Winter still lingering at 40 degrees and we had some rain so I was crossing my fingers there would be something left by the time I got there.
There's nothing u can't do once u put ur mind to do it. After a dreary Saturday, I made the decision to take advantage of extra hands (Mason) to take my pics n cut down on lugging a tripod around n tossed on an outfit to adhere to the weather n comfort. Nothing fancy!!
I wanted to be an example to content creators who suffer from overthinking n waiting for the perfect time to just do it.
Work with what u have but I also knew I wasn't gonna take "creating" too seriously becuz at this point in the game...I'm carving intentional time to do what I now love to do-partake in the Cherry Blossoms.
This year meant more than emerging in the festivities. I made it a moment to share with Mason before he headed off on his college tour for Spring Break and I paid more attention to the surroundings rather than getting the perfect shot. Now becuz it was windy n COLD in the morning, we didn't walk the full Tidal Basin and honestly...I would only do that by myself so I don't feel rushed. It was a pleasure to see a melting pot of cultures coming to observe the beauty of the blossoms n there was also a 5k race going on. There's a handful of food trucks throughout spaces on the mall and I'll do small rant on a separate post to follow, lol.
I am glad I did a spontaneous trip to see the cherries and hope to catch em before they fall off because I grab something new every year-this year, I noticed more how the colors shifted from white to pink. I never paid much attention to em previously but to REALLY take the shade shifts into account vs just snapping a pic was beautiful.
Once the cherries blossom u typically have a good 2 week window to check em out. One of my goals is to catch a sunrise and a sunset but I don't wanna be out there shivering to do so and the way global warming moving...peak time gonna end up being Mid-March one day **le sigh**
Have yall checked out the blossoms yet? or plan on making ur way to do so...up next some tips n tricks to navigate the trip!!
