Cherry Blossom Fest Kickoff

Today,  Linda drove down from Solomons and celebrated the kick off of the 09 Cherry Blossom Festival with me. 

It was a little rainy so it was best to do a windshield vice walking tour.

We first drove to the heart of the festival enjoying the panoramic view of the puffy, pink cotton candy trees that lined the Tidal Basin.

A stone's throw away, by the Washington Monument folks from near and far were lining up with their fancy kites, some exquisite, some home-made.

Then we headed to the National Building Museum and secured a lucky, front row seat to the Opening Ceremony.  We saw this American guy who Linda and I thought at first was a Hip Hop artist sing Japanese folk tunes perfectly, you would think he was Japanese.

There were ballet dancers, First-grade violin players and the highlight of the whole show was this all-female drummer dance troupe that thrilled and whirled the crowd -- what a wonderful show and wonderful way to end the show.

We then strolled over to the Portrait Museum and browsed through the arts and crafts of Americana, both historic and modern.

Admiring art really worked up an appetite and Chinatown being next door, we enjoyed a nice, wholesome gluten-free dinner of roast pork, soy sauce chicken, spinach and matsutake mushroom but not necessarily in that order.

The lighter side of dinner occurred when Linda attempted to add sugar to the high-grade Chinese tea.

That was when I interceded on behalf of the Ancient Chinese mythology and saved the day.

By now, you would think that the evening was over especially since the rain had come back some.

But, I had one more surprise left up my sleeve-- a nice scenic drive by the US Capitol, Library of Congress, Supreme Court and then a drive cross the border into VA.

Linda was surprised to see the Pentagon but was truly impressed with the determination and design of the Pentagon Memorial and the way the age lines traverse the Memorial at 45 degrees, directing our eyes across the path to the current Air Force Memorial where American Airlines Flight 77 had previously flown from.

We were touched to see the youngest victim, Dana Falkenberg, who was only three-years old and were equally honored by the oldest who was 71 and had previously served and retired from the US Army.

Then after an afternoon and evening of entertainment, arts and honor, Linda was ready for her long drive back to Solomons, through the fog and rain.