Today marked the always joyful first day of spring. Not the first day you can plausibly wear less than a jacket or pants, nor the day the first buds appear, nor the vernal equinox - no, today was the first real day you can go outside, feel warm just standing there, and, well, you just get that feeling. This is spring, and it's the best time of year. Not surprisingly, the city of Washington DC and the cherry blossoms also took note of this auspicious date and decided to create a festival (the former) in the blooming (the latter) blossoms' honor. All around the city, the eternal question gets asked by DC newbies like myself: "That's a pretty flower - are they cherry blossoms?"
My stock answer, what I tell myself anyway, is that yes, they are all cherry trees. Because, what's worse than stopping to admire a pretty tree only to find out it's a crab apple tree or something less exotic? (An aside: since I work for a science advocacy group, I wonder if I should feel bad for this alien species achieving a prominent place in our Nation's capital...Oh well, prettiness overrides a lot in life.) Especially popular are the cherry trees lining the Tidal Basin just to the south of the Mall on the Potomac, a pretty backdrop to the Jefferson Memorial that rests majestically across the water. The trees were apparently a gift from the Mayor of Tokyo in the early 1900's and I guess over the years DC needed a proper spring festival/tourist trap and the National Cherry Blossom Festival was born.
The best part of the festival is the flurry of activity around the Mall and Capitol. Families pose for timeless pictures under large, overhanging cherry trees on the front lawn of the Capitol, the blossoms falling like a sweet pink snow as a parent or Good Samaritan takes the picture. Tour groups on Segways (possibly the most ridiculous invention ever created - just the act of standing on, or even by, a Segway makes you an instant turd. Don't get me started on what strapping on a helmet, adjusting your fanny pack, tucking in your ill-fitting polo shirt, and digging for your clip-ons in said fanny pack (or any combination of these that leads to a tour) and taking a tour on one makes you!!) - sorry for the digression, but anyway, tour groups on Segways collect like iron shards to a magnet around some forgotten speck of DC history only to break away like pods from a seed as they migrate to the next designated spot (single file, mind you).
Pasty guys like myself pull the shorts and sandals out of their dusty box and, upon sporting these summery duds, indirectly cause sunglasses vendors to see a short blip in sales due to the garish hue that shines from our legs and feet (note - I got pretty tan this weekend, so put the sunglasses away...). People who took high school (and college, and grad school, and now work) too seriously now bust out the blue cones and rubber balls and claim to dominate yet another facet of their life in that childhood game of kickball. Games on the Mall are apparently a mainstay of DC summers. Unfortunately, so are the serious folks who play; decked out in sporty sunglasses, matching t-shirts, and gym shorts in an almost too calculatedly 'cool' manner - you know the type. Well, they were there in force!
The best part about walking on the Mall, even better than the smugness that being here more than a month entitles you in your attitude towards tourists (kidding!), is the sight of thousands of people coming together to experience this nation's capital city in its finest, least humid, prettiest time of the year. Even the Segway tourists and kickball macho men are at least outdoors enjoying a beautiful spring day. People on the Mall are either on vacation or taking a break from the working life. And it's different than a local park or other leisurely gathering spot. There are no jungle gyms or lakes to boat around - only an old fashioned carousel spinning endlessly cheerful in the shadow of the Smithsonian Castle. Everyone else is there just to enjoy the spectacle, taking in a good book, relaxing with friends and family, walking hand-in-hand with a date, or, yes, playing kickball. People are there for the Mall and the Mall only, the vast expanse of its green (and dusty yellow) space lets you take in the scope of the area, and the bookends of the Capitol and the Washington Monument, not to mention the literally monumental bordering buildings, never let you forget why you decided to take a walk on our nation's park on a beautiful spring day.
