Cherry Blossoms Are Here

As I've shared in earlier posts, since Jimmo is in school and Princess is still home with me for this last year, we schedule some fun time together on Fridays. We call it - Field Trip Friday. So with the cherry blossoms in bloom, we decided to take advantage of this beautiful site. I was delightfully surprised at her interest in them . They are truly breathtaking how they drape over the paths and almost into the Tidal Basin. It was a bit foggy, cold and damp, but here is a shot where you can kind of see how they cascade into the water.

We did a cherry blossom tour with a National Park Tour Ranger. I'm not sure about all of you, but I always thought the trees were given to us as a peace offering after WWII. With that said, I've definitely revealed how much I did not pay attention in my high school history classes. So I thought I would give a quick background on the Cherry Blossoms for those of you who wrote notes to your friends during history class like I did.

• 1909 - A visiting Japanese dignitary offered a donation of 2,000 trees to First Lady Taft who was working on a beautification program in the District. The initial trees given were actually infested with disease and needed to be burned. The same dignitary offered another 3,020 trees to replace them a few years later.


• 1935 - The cherry trees were thriving and the First Cherry Blossom Festival was held.


• 1938 - A group of women chained themselves to the cherry trees in an effort to save them during the construction of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial.


• 1952 - The parent stock of D.C.'s first cherry trees were destroyed during WWII. United States National Park services sent budwood from descendants of US trees back to Tokyo in hopes of restoring their original site. (WWII was from 1939 - 1945)


• 1954 - The Japanese ambassador presented the US with a 300 year old Japanese Lantern. This is on the cherry blossom walk at the Tidal Basin.


• 1965 - Japanese Government sent another 3,800 trees to Lady Bird Johnson for planting.


• 1982 - The US sent 800 cuttings from the Tidal Basin trees to Japan to replace trees that perished in a flood.


• 1999 - 50 trees are propagated from the 1400+ old tree growing in the Itasho Neo village in Japan as a gift to the US.

So rather than a peace offering it's actually a gift giving cycle with Japan and the US that continues even today. The trees are considered a symbol of friendship between the two countries.

We also learned a lot about the maturation of these trees. This was what Princess was interested in the most. It was quite fascinating to see and hear the process. This is Princess in a Magnolia tree (saucer Magnolia to be exact). You're obviously not allowed to sit in the Cherry Blossom trees.

And then we also went to the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. Her first comment was - "That's a very big man, Momma".

So after a few hours we were very cold and hungry. So much for the picnic lunch I packed for the sunny 68 degrees weather we were supposed to have. So I offered her some hot chocolate at Starbucks and she said she wanted a Cheeseburger. Interesting choice....so off to Johnny Rockets we went. A cheeseburger and milkshake can always make you warm inside!

So if anyone wants to visit next year for the Cherry Blossom festival - we are well equipped to give a tour! More on Jimmo soon.