Trip report - Washington Cherry Blossoms

This had to be the most beautiful weekend in Washington. The cherry blossoms were amazing and the weather was perfect.

We stayed at the Sheraton National in Arlington and it was a great place to stay. A shuttle to Pentagon Mall and places to eat and to the metro.

Arlington Cemetery moved us to tears - the Kennedy family sites, Challenger, Tomb of the Unknown and changing of the guard.

We got hop on-hop off tickets with the national park shuttle and they do an excellent job. I would highly recommend them to anyone new to Washington or anyone going a busy time like we did. They do a great job explaining all the history and sites and the ride through Arlington was very nice.

we took a night dinner cruise on the Spirit of Washington which was expensive and very disappointing. I would not recommend it.

Had a great time and can't wait to go back (at a time not as crowded). And next time we are taking Amtrak and only using Metro. We never did find the zoo - our last stop on the way out of town.

Have a great spring everyone:thumbsup:

Thanks for the report. I just found out I will be flying into Dulles next Tuesday and will have about 1/2 day to sightsee. I've been there a few times but never at Cherry Blossom time. Can anyone tell me whether or not they will still be blooming in a week? I am somewhat of a photography nut and would love to get some good photos. Thanks.

The festival should be still going on - I think the peak time lasts about 2 weeks. Next weekend is the parade.

MarkC,

Please post your pictures, I'd love to see them!

Denise :mickey:

Will do upon my return.

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Originally Posted by Katzateer

We took a night dinner cruise on the Spirit of Washington which was expensive and very disappointing. I would not recommend it.

We never did find the zoo - our last stop on the way out of town.

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I think Arlington is a "must do" for anyone living in this country.

Can you tell us what you didn't like about the cruise? I have not taken it but am curious what you didn't like about it.

The zoo is not "in town" so to speak. It's not close to the other attractions and even after getting off of it's metro stop you still have a little bit of a hike to get to it.

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Originally Posted by MarkC

Thanks for the report. I just found out I will be flying into Dulles next Tuesday and will have about 1/2 day to sightsee. I've been there a few times but never at Cherry Blossom time. Can anyone tell me whether or not they will still be blooming in a week? I am somewhat of a photography nut and would love to get some good photos. Thanks.

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Originally Posted by Katzateer

The festival should be still going on - I think the peak time lasts about 2 weeks. Next weekend is the parade.

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The unusual warm weather the past few weeks has sped up spring in DC. By Tuesday the 13th I wouldn't be surprised if the blooms were mostly gone...sorry. According to the National Park Service, the peak bloom happened on March 31, and the blooms only last 14 days. All of the blooms in my neighborhood are gone now.

Instead...and to make your life much easier, I'd suggest spending the day at the Udvar-Hazy center of the National Air and Space Museum. It's right next to Dulles and could easily fill half a day. To start with, it has a Concorde and Space Shuttle on display, plus a Dulles observation tower and an Imax theater.

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Originally Posted by NJGIRL

The zoo is not "in town" so to speak. It's not close to the other attractions and even after getting off of it's metro stop you still have a little bit of a hike to get to it.

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The zoo is absolutely in-town...it's just not downtown. I know....I live about 0.3 miles from the entrance to it.

Aside form that, the walk from a Metro stop is pretty short compared to distances we all usually walk at WDW...its about half a mile to either the Woodley Park-Zoo or Cleveland Park Metro stops.

The zoo was the only thing we didn't take public transportation to. We had checked out of the hotel and I figured since we were arriving early it would not be a problem.

I had directions. We were within 2 BLOCKS of the zoo and could not find it!!! We went down 3 different streets (one of them the street the zoo's address was on) and still no luck. It was 9:30 on a Sunday morning and I told my husband lets just go on home. It was frustrating to be so close and not find it. Next time we will go on the Metro!!

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Originally Posted by MidnTPK

The zoo is absolutely in-town...it's just not downtown. I know....I live about 0.3 miles from the entrance to it.

Aside form that, the walk from a Metro stop is pretty short compared to distances we all usually walk at WDW...its about half a mile to either the Woodley Park-Zoo or Cleveland Park Metro stops.

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What I meant when I said it was not "in town" was that it was not in the area were most of the other attractions were located that is why I used the "" around in town.

As far as the short walk I have to disagree with you. I was not comparing it with Disney since the topic is not Disney in this thread. We were talking about DC and I was comparing it to the distance we had to walk from other metro stops to the points of interest we were going. The walk from the metro to the zoo was a longer walk than we had for other stops. It was my experience that I was relaying.

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Originally Posted by NJGIRL

It was my experience that I was relaying.

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Exactly...which is why I'm pointing out to people that they might have a different experience. Your experience with the proximity of tourist attractions to metro stops seem a little unusual to me. For example, the Air & Space museum (the most popular museum in Washington) is at least 0.4 miles from the nearest metro station. Its between 0.4 and 0.5 miles from the two metro stops people use for the zoo. The Washington, Lincoln, and Jefferson memorials are even a small bit further from their respective closest metro stops.

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Originally Posted by Katzateer

The zoo was the only thing we didn't take public transportation to. We had checked out of the hotel and I figured since we were arriving early it would not be a problem.

I had directions. We were within 2 BLOCKS of the zoo and could not find it!!! We went down 3 different streets (one of them the street the zoo's address was on) and still no luck. It was 9:30 on a Sunday morning and I told my husband lets just go on home. It was frustrating to be so close and not find it. Next time we will go on the Metro!!

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We had a hard time finding it too. I remember after getting off the metro we had to stop at a little shop and ask for directions even though we were following the signs.

Thanks for the report! How much were the hop on/hop off tickets?

I believe they ran about $35 a ticket (can't find the paper but it is on the web site). Kids under 13 are cheaper.

So--- how are the Cherry Blossoms right now? I'm leaving in 36 hours and still hoping for some good photo ops.

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Originally Posted by MarkC

So--- how are the Cherry Blossoms right now? I'm leaving in 36 hours and still hoping for some good photo ops.

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There's a few random trees around the city with blossoms, but the picturesque trees around the Tidal Basin and monuments have moved onto growing green leaves.

We will be going on our first trip to DC, even though we will be missing the Cherry Blossoms, I'm sure we will have a great time. Thanks for the report.