The Balancing Act: Spring in Washington DC

Well even though there is song written Christmas Eve in Washington, nothing compares to Springtime in Washington. People travel from far and wide to see the Cherry Blossoms. Cherry Blossoms are fickle little things and bloom time is short and dependent on the weather. I can't imagine making plans to travel in advance and coming during a time when they were not in bloom. Thankfully it is a quick trip into the city for us.

This year the blooms were behind schedule due to the unusually cold weather in March. We planned to make a Sunday trip into the city at the first sign of 70 degree weather. Our plan was to visit the National Zoo and then stop by the Tidal Basin in the afternoon, allowing more time for blooms to open. The best thing about DC it was all FREE!

We LOVE metro-ing around the city. When you know how to do the metro right it is such a breeze. I'll tell you our insider tip...ALWAYS go to the very front or end of the train. On a busy day in the city, with thousands in for the Cherry Blossom Festival, we found seats on nearly empty train cars. This was not the case for the middle cars which were packed with standing room only. We also rode one stop past the zoo to have a flat walk instead of an uphill walk to the zoo.

Arriving at the zoo, we immediately hit up the Asian Trail-aka Panda Exhibit :) We got to see other bears and then waited in line to see the pandas. We got to see a brief glimpse of the panda moving and eating. He then headed outside. By the time we got around to the outside, he headed back inside. We walked around to look at the birds (I was not interested, but Nick likes the birds so I tagged along) We got to see elephants playing. We then grabbed lunch satisfying my craving for a hot dog.

Afterwards we visited the monkeys and apes and got to see quite a show. They have a rope to climb across the zoo, so they can pick between two houses to stay in. We got to see them make the trek!

Next we visited my favorites! The cats! We got to see great action of the lions, tigers, and cheetahs. We also visited the Amazon exhibit where we walked through the rain forest environment. As we made our way back to the zoo entrance, we walked through the American trail. We got to see the otters playing with the kids at the exhibit which was very entertaining.