Cherry Blossom Season
We left Tiffin in the blinding snowstorm that hit our area on March 24th. The temperature was at 22 degrees and the windshield wipers could not keep ice away. We traveled south to Bucyrus on Route 100 and east on Route 30 to Interstate 77. This took us four hours, traveling around 30 miles an hour. We saw many cars in ditches and trailers jack-knifed. We ran out of the storm around Cambridge. When we arrived in Charleston, West Virginia, it was sunny and 75 degrees!
We kept to the schedule that we had arranged with our son, Mark and his family in North Carolina, and our relatives in West Virginia and Virginia and enjoyed catching up on family news. Our goal after those visits was to see the cherry blossoms at their peak in Washington, D. C. Monday, the day after Easter, we were able, with help, to figure out the rapid transit system that delivered us right in front of the Smithsonian Museum buildings.
The Washington Monument showed tall and pale in the morning sun, as we walked down the mall toward the Tidal Basin. We paused at the Smithsonian Museum of American History, which featured a special exhibit, “The American Presidency”. A huge banner proclaimed, “Being president is like riding a tiger” by Harry S Truman.
Traveling the path around the Washington Monument was like walking under a pink cloud. There are more than 3,700 cherry trees in the parks around the Tidal Basin. This is the 90th year anniversary of the gift of the trees from Japan. At first there were only a few trees. The U. S. responded by sending dogwood trees to Japan. Then in 1965, 3,800 trees were accepted by LadyBird Johnson from Japan.
The first cherries to bloom are the pink-white Weeping Higan. Then the most plentiful Yoshino cherries form white clouds around the Tidal Basin. Blooming among them are the single-flowered pink Akebono. Finally, the Kwanzan cherries bloom about a week later. Some of the trees are quite old and among them are new plantings.
What a festive atmosphere prevailed! Couples with young children were looking about for the best location to take a picture that would capture the children, the cherry blossoms and a monument in the background. Professional photographers had their tripods set up. People smiled as they passed us as if to say, “Aren’t we lucky to be here in this glorious place in such fine weather?”
The Tidal Basin is ringed with cherry trees and the circular dome of the Jefferson Monument and its reflection in the water is a sight not soon forgotten. As we continued around the Tidal Basin which was constructed out of marshland in the thirties by the U. S. Corp of Engineers, we detoured a little to see the series of outdoor rooms which make up the Franklin Delano Roosevelt monument. Massive granite walls sparkling with bits of mica shape waterfalls, and quiet alcoves where we read 21 sayings by FDR and one by Eleanor.
In one room, bronze statues depict four men in a bread line, a despairing depression era couple, and a man listening to a radio. There the quote is, ”We must scrupulously guard the civil rights of all citizens whatever their background. We must remember that any injustice, any oppression, any hatred is a wedge designed to attack our civilization.”
President Roosevelt sits in a wheelchair with his beloved dog, Fala. The quote during the war years, “I have seen war. I have seen war on land and sea. I have seen blood running from the wounded. I have seen the dead in the mud. I have seen cities destroyed. I have seen children starving. I have seen the agony of mothers and wives. I HATE WAR.”
Mrs. Roosevelt is in the last room and the quote by her is from her days as a representative to the United Nations. “ More than an end to war, we want an end to the beginnings of all wars. Unless the peace that follows recognizes that the whole world is one neighborhood and does justice to the whole human race, the germs of another world war will remain as a constant threat to mankind.”
Our next stop was the Lincoln Memorial with the Gettysburg Address and his great Second Inaugural Address carved in stone inside the building. The largest crowd was there. It was pleasant to sit in the sun on the steps of the monument and watch birds landing in the reflecting pool.
The Korean War Memorial and the Vietnam Memorial were each very moving in their own way. The soldiers at the Korean War Memorial stand ghost-like, frozen, at the ready for action. The simple genius of the Vietnam Memorial with its rows of the names of slain men and women has to be experienced to know its full impact. A family was there tracing the name of their lost loved one. We felt proud of our country and grateful for the many great men who have led our country. We breathed in the beauty of the cherries and felt so lucky that we had been able to come to Washington on such a glorious day.
We traveled on across the Chester River at Annapolis to eastern Maryland to visit our old friends, Leon and Elizabeth Wise who have moved to an apartment that is part of an assisted living complex in Chestertown. It is located right on the marsh and river. Leon is able to take pictures of sailboats and the many critters that live there. Elizabeth continues her hospice work in the new location.
We traveled 2,700 miles in ten days. It was a nice break from the routine.
– Mary and Percy