Cherry Blossoms and Blues

Hi Blog! We made it back from the West Coast safe and sound albeit exhausted from our red-eye flight out to Bainbridge Island, Washington. We had a great time catching up with family and look forward to our next visit out West. With only one day left before moving to Pennsylvania, we decided to take the Metro into DC on Wednesday, April 9th and revisit two of our most favorite places - The National Mall and Blues Alley.

April is a fun time to be in DC. There are loads of tourists and school kids on field trips. Everyone is excited about the National Cherry Blossom Festival. We got really lucky with the weather. We started our adventure in the late afternoon. Our first stop - the Capito Building.

We next set our sights on the Washington Monument. Of course, we stopped several times along the way to admire the blossoms.

The Tidal Basin was pretty crowded with tourists, and we have been there twice before for the cherry blossoms, so we opted to skip the basin and head over to the Lincoln Memorial.  We really liked this perspective of the World War II Memorial, which we haven't seen before. No matter how many times we visit DC, the size and scale never ceases to impress.

From the Mall, we headed over to Georgetown. Founded in 1751 in the state of Maryland, the port of Georgetown predated the establishment of the federal district and the City of Washington by 40 years. Georgetown has a very colonial feel with lots of older brick buildings. Blues Alley is literally down a small alley off Wisconsin Avenue. Inside is just what you would expect of a jazz and blues club:  low ceilings, small tables packed together and exposed brick walls.

Tonight's performer was Florian Hoefner, a jazz pianist. We had never heard of him before, but we trust the folks at Blues Alley that they would only book the best, so this was a great opportunity for us to expand our horizons.  We were not disappointed.  Here is one of the songs he played, a composition titled "Stoney Lake" that he wrote, inspired by the actual Stoney Lake, located a two hours' drive north of Toronto, Ontario. This You Tube version of the piece is with his group, but you still get the idea.

Before long it was time to head back to the Metro. As we were walking along the parking lot of the Largo Town Center, we noticed a pair of geese that decided to set up housekeeping on the median strip.  Mama was presumably on the nest and Dad was lying guard nearby on the pavement:

We were afraid we would disturb them as we walked by, but although they each opened one eye to check us out, they didn't bolt.  Not even the roar of our truck as we left the parking lot caused them any evident disturbance.

And so ends another adventure. We know we'll be back this way again.  Until next time, D.C.!