Cherry Blossom Festival - Washington DC

 

Route from Harrisburg to Washington DC:

US - 15 S I - 270 S

 

It was in 1912 when the about 3000 Cherry (Sakura) trees were gifted to the US by Japan. These cherry trees signify the coming of spring as they burst into a colorful bloom of pink and white. Its during this time that the Cherry Blossom festival is held in Washington DC for about 3 weeks. When I saw the pictures of the beautiful pink and white flowers on the Internet, I wanted to go see it myself. That's when we decided to drive to DC last Saturday (03/28/08).

You need to consider a few things before you plan your trip for the Cherry Blossom. First and foremost, these Cherry trees have a period of peak bloom. This period is predicted by the US National Park Service Officials and the dates can be obtained from their website or by calling their office.

planyourvisit - national-cherry-blossom-page

Second important thing is to know about the location of the Cherry Blossom trees. The Cherry Tree map can be found from the official site of Cherry Blossom festival. Cherry Blossom Festival

For people driving to DC another thing to look out for is the parking information. Generally parking areas are available very near to the cherry Blossom area. Also on weekends all street parking in DC is free. The 42 metro stations of DC also provide free parking facility so one can actually drive up to a metro station and then take the metro to roam around in DC.

We had another mission other than seeing the Cherry Blossoms and that was taking the tour of the Washington Monument. I had been to DC a couple of times but never had a chance to see the Washington monument from the inside. The Washington Monument is free but you need tickets to go inside. The tickets are available online as well at the ticket counter located on the base of the monument on the 15th street which opens at 8:30am to give away the tickets on a first come first serve basis. However people line up as early as 7:30am. An individual gets a maximum of 6 tickets.

We decided to take this tour on this visit. First we checked online and to our shock found that the earliest tickets were available for the month of May, which means one needs to book about two months in advance. So the only option available to us was to stand in the line, for tickets, as early as possible. That Saturday I woke up at 3:30am to get ready for our trip. Me and my husband, we were ready by 4:30am. With our sandwiches in hand we started our drive from Harrisburg. What we planned was to drive up to Rossyln (Virginia), park at Rossyln station and take the metro to DC. Our drive took us about 2 hours. We were at Rossyln around 7:10am. After parking we took the metro to the Smithsonian station, from where we walked up to the Washington Monument ticket kiosk. We were there at the right time. The line ahead of us had about 100 odd people. We met a father daughter duo who had come here for the second consecutive time as the day before the tickets finished with 50 of them left in the line. According to him our position was good and so we had full hopes of getting the tickets. We stood there for one and half hours with the wind blowing hard on our backs. The sun shone but had little effect against the might cold wind. It was so cold that the line outside the ladies restroom was giving competition to the ticket line. Finally the kiosk opened at 8:30am and the line started moving. My husband's friend joined us too. We were lucky enough to get the 9:00am tickets. We quickly hurried to the monument and after a complete search of all our things we were allowed to move in. Please keep in mind no eatables etc are allowed inside the monument. Because of this I did not carry any food with us and I was kind of starved a little. also there is no coffee shop or anything near the monument. The one that is there opens late around 9am and has just the very basic things. As you enter the monument the George Washington picture welcomes you.

The monument is 500ft tall and you are asked to take the elevator to the top most floor. Just opposite the elevator is a statue of George Washington.

 

On the top floor are windows on all four directions (North, South, East and West). These windows give a beautiful panoramic view of the outside. In fact I liked the white house better from the top than from outside. The other sides give the beautiful view of the Lincoln Memorial and the World War II Memorial, the Pentagon and the air strip with aircrafts landing and taking off.

 

The Jefferson memorial, the tidal basin and the Potomac river lined up by the Cherry trees look beautiful from the top.

 

We had a great time there. during this tour. On the 490ft level there is a small exhibit related to the history of the monument. Then while going down to the zero level you get to see some of the stones inside the monument that have been gifted by various states. Well the experience was wonderful. Once we came out we straight away headed to the food court at the Old Post Office building because all three of us were hungry. The food court is nice with a variety of food stalls. There is an Indian outlet called vegetarian delight. I had a gigantic sized samosa and my husband tried  a Greek wrap. We also had chocolate rocky road cookie and a macadamia nut cookie. These are sold by weight here. Oh we loved the cookies. Just then I got a call from my brother, who was supposed to join us. So we made our way towards the Natural History Museum to pick him up.

Next all four of us headed towards the tidal basin for the Cherry Blossom festival. On the way, outside the Washington Monument, the kite flying festival had begun.  The variety of kites added color to the sky. there were all kinds of kites, big ones, small ones, cute ones etc. As we moved towards the tidal basin we could see the sea of pink and white. The Cherry trees are planted around the Jefferson Memorial - all around the tidal basin and the Potomac river area. The moment we were there the photo session started with me wanting my picture everywhere. There are total 12 varieties of Cherry trees with the flower color ranging from white, to light pink, to darker shades of pink. Some are also a bit reddish in color.

 

The view of the basin surrounded by the blossoms is amazing.  Over there they had the Cherry Blossom Welcome center which provided all the information to the visitors. They also had stalls selling Japanese cuisine and Japanese beer which probably was sold out in an hour or so. We decided to go for paddle boating in the basin. The line was long but we made it after waiting for 30-40 min. We took one 4 seater boat with me and my husband paddling. It was fun. The weather had become nice by then so we enjoyed the boating all the more. While on the boat we had a tough time taking a picture of all four of us with the Washington monument in the backdrop.

There is a small tulip library just near the tidal basin. There were some very colorful tulips in bloom and others were yet to come to life.

At the Jefferson Memorial some public performances were going on. We decided to skip that and go see the US Botanical Garden.

 

 

 

 

The garden is located near the Capitol at the Independence avenue and 1st street.

 

We took a walk to the Botanical garden. An orchid exhibit was going on at that time so we had the pleasure of seeing all kinds of orchids. They were simply beautiful.

 

After taking the tour of the garden we headed to Dupont Circle area for lunch. The restaurant that we chose was Zorbas Cafe.. a Greek eatery. The food was good. I tried the Zorba's Vegetarian Plate which had the Spanakopitta (phillo dough patty filled with spinach. eggs etc), fasolia (a long bean preparation), pitta bread and falafel (chick pea patties), Greek salad (feta cheese is good), two dolmathes (grape leaves stuffed with rice), hommus and tzatziki (yogurt cucumber dressing).Other dishes that we tried were Souvlaki (chicken skewers dish) and Keftethes (kefte Kebab) (meat balls served with rice). There are lots of eateries around the Dupont Circle area. Another place having good restaurants is Georgetown area. You can find lots of Indian restaurants, in addition to others, in both these areas.

Our visual senses satiated with the sight of the Cherry Blossoms and our stomachs full it was time to say goodbye. We took a metro from Dupont Circle to the Metro Center. From there my brother and my husband's friend headed to College park (Maryland) and we took a metro to Rossyln. From Rossyln we started our drive back home, halting in Maryland to take  a break. We both were a bit sleepy so the break was needed. We got back home in two and half hours.

Vacation in Boston (MA) - highlight being "Whale Watching"

 

Reaching there from Harrisburg (Pennsylvania):

We drove from Harrisburg (PA) to the Baltimore-Washington International Airport (Baltimore) and took a flight to Boston. The drive to the Baltimore airport took about one and half hour drive.

Vacation Dates:

27th July 2007 - 29th July 2007

This was one of most memorable trips of mine. I hadn't seen whales and here we decided to go to Boston for a whale watching trip. Since summer is the best time, we planned this trip in the month of July. Once we arrived at the Boston airport we took the bus to the metro station and from there took a train and then again a bus to reach our hotel in Point Shirley. We had made our reservations in the Suburban Extended Stay Hotel.

One of the first places we visited after landing in Boston was the Quincy Market for lunch. The metro and the bus service is pretty convenient to travel around in Boston. I simply took a fancy for the Quincy market place. Its such a fun place with plethora of eating places, plenty of public performances around the market place and a long aisle of knick-knack shops. You have so many options for food - Mexican, American, Indian, Chinese, all kinds of seafood, amazing dessert & ice-creams parlor and coffee shops. Our menu for lunch was Paradise Chicken with Siam Noodles and Chocolate Pastry. Probably fried rice would have been a better choice with chicken.

Oh when you are at the Quincy Market, you got to go to the Godiva Chocolatier which is just outside the marketplace. It has some of the most yummy shakes, my favorite being the 'Chocolate Decadence'. Umm I still remember the taste.

Summer time is play time and that is when you get to see several public performances. We saw a juggling act and a dance performance.

 

We also happen to go to the Museum of Science in Boston. The museum offers film presentation in 3D and they have one of the best state-of-the-art digital projection system. While at the museum we happened to catch the screening of "The World of Sharks". The 3D dome theatre is definitely amazing. the museum has some very interesting sections like the Mathematics section. With the setting sun we headed to my favorite place - yes the Quincy Market for dinner. This time we tried the Teriyaki chicken and a Burrito (yes we had a combo of Chinese and Mexican dishes) and had ice cream for dessert. The market place was abuzz with people all around and it was bright with all the lights on. We were there on time for the light and sound laser show that is held in the night around 8:30pm. The show wasn't that great, nothing very special.

Next morning we headed to the Long Wharf at the Boston harbor area as we were scheduled to take the whale watching cruise. It was drizzling then. In the harbor area is another attraction - The New England Aquarium. We already had our cruise tickets booked online from the Boston Harbor Cruises so just had to collect them from their office. Because of some problems with the ship we were to take the 10:30am cruise so we had plenty of time on hand and so we went for a morning walk around the harbor area. The drizzling had stopped by then. The site of boats and ships anchored at the Wharf area against the early morning (at 8:00am) sky looked peaceful with no one around. We walked through a small park nearby, had our breakfast at Quincy Market and began walking back to the harbor.

Soon we were aboard the cruise sailing into the ocean in search of the whales. Once we were at the whale spotting zone, the cruise officials gave us some rightful information about the whales. Just between one such announcements we were alerted about whale activity at a far away distance. This was just the beginning. Within minutes we saw another colossus mass emerging from the blue waters and disappearing in seconds. Another majestic sight was the mammal taking a dip into the water with its tail fin visible in full sight. Most of them were the Humpback whales with a few Minke whales too. The only disappointment being that we didn't get to see the whale in it's entirety. Its just a matter of luck. But we did capture some nice videos of the whales.

Video of two of the whales we spotted.

The cruise was three hour long. By the time we came back it was lunch time. Boston is also known for its Italian Market at North End. We decided to go there for lunch and since its quite near from the harbor, we decided to walk. This market has all kinds of Italian eateries on both sides of the road. We had Italian Pizza for lunch and headed to an Italian bakery shop for some cheesecake. That is when it started to rain. Within moments it was pouring as hell. We waited for the rain to stop and then headed back. While on our way back we walked through the Haymarket food bazaar. It is like a farmer's market where people get their fresh produce and sell. But what we read on the Internet was that the fruits and veggies sold aren't that good. They sell it cheap, real cheap but  half of it is not good for use. We had read about the huge Boston Public Library on the Internet so thought of going there. But we were late as the library had already closed. We roamed around in the vicinity. There is this good looking building - The John Hancock Tower and the Trinity Church.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A visit to Boston would be incomplete without a stroll in the Boston Public Garden hence next we headed to towards the garden. The garden is huge with a lake inside which has colorful swan shaped boats. The garden is lined with beds of colorful flowers and also has several works of public art. As you move closer to the lake you see flock of swans all around. They sometimes tend to follow you and give you ample opportunities to capture them with your camera. With the tour of the garden the day came to an end and we headed for a nearby Chinese Takeout for dinner. We had some spicy Chicken curry.

Next day we had some time before heading back home so we planned to go to the nearby beach called the Winthrop Beach. This beach wasn't worth mentioning. We came back and packed our bags. The hotel van dropped us at the metro station. We took the freedom trail around the State Station. It was ok, I wouldn't say great. We had our lunch at Quincy - a Lobster Roll and Quesadilla. Then we headed to the airport. This day was one of the longest day of my life. After waiting for an hour we came to know that the flight was delayed. There were some thunderstorms and heavy rain in the Baltimore and Philadelphia areas which caused delays in the flights. We had some Chinese food for lunch at the airport and waited for some information regarding our flight. Thank God, I had my Harry Potter with me. Our flight was originally scheduled to depart at 2pm in the afternoon but we finally took off at 7:30pm. A long ordeal came to an end. We then drove, back to Harrisburg, in the rain and reached home around 12pm.

Drive from Harrisburg (Pennsylvania) to Atlanta (Georgia) and back

 

Route: I-81 S I-77 S I-85 S	Our Vehicle: Honda Civic – 2004 hybrid model	Dates: 03/15 – 03/22

My husband had some work for which he had to be in Atlanta (Georgia) for a week and that’s when we decided to take this trip by road. The drive from Harrisburg to Atlanta is about 11 ½ hours. We decided to complete the drive in two parts.

Harrisburg (PA) to Charlotte (NC) – 7 1/2 hours

We started from Harrisburg on a Friday morning around 10am after filling up our gas tank. We drove through Lancaster and entered Maryland. Driving on I-81 S we crossed into West Virginia and that’s when we made our first stop. The drive wasn’t scenic enough because of the winter season. The trees on the mountains were bare with no leaves. There wasn’t any sign of greenery around. Though, occasionally we did sight a few birds along the way. But I am sure it would be worth seeing in the summer and fall seasons.

 

After West Virginia we entered Virginia. We stopped in between for a lunch break and then drove on. Initially we had thought about staying the night at Roanoke but then thought about covering more distance on the first day and hence chose Charlotte as our halt station. After driving for about 125 miles or so we finally set foot in the beautiful state of North Carolina. It was quite late by the time we reached Charlotte so we headed straight to the hotel. We stayed at the Royal Inns & Suites which was just next to highway, very convenient. We had already made our reservations. The room was quite spacious and cozy. It had all the basic amenities. The first thing we did was having our dinner and ended the day.

Charlotte (NC) to Atlanta (GA) - 4 hours

 

Next morning we started our journey after breakfast at around 10:30am. We made our first stop at a gas station and had our lunch at the nearby McDonalds. As we crossed Gastonia, we entered the state with ‘beautiful places and smiling faces’ – South Carolina.

 

On the way we saw the beautiful Hartwell Lake. There are quite a few beautiful parks in SC. Due to time constraints we decided to skip them. It was only around 2:00pm that we entered Atlanta. Oh I loved the wide multiple lanes freeways. They kind of amplify the vast spaces around you. We had reserved a studio suite at Homestead Studio Suites. The location of the hotel at Executive Park Dr is very convenient. The Loehmann’s Mall, located at the backside of the hotel has a few nice eating outlets like Lettuce Souprise You, The Moe’s Southwest Grill and TCBY. It’s just at a walking distance from the hotel.

Our stay in Atlanta was superb. First of all I was able to catch up on a Hindi movie in a theatre after 10 months. We went and saw “Jodha Akbar”. The movie wasn't worth it, it was way too long. Though the dresses and jewelry worn by Aishwarya Rai were fabulous. There are some nice Indian restaurants in the city like Udipi and Saravana Bhavan, though I like the latter. We had yummy Rava Masala Dosa and Channa Bhatura and Plantain Bhajji there. The food was delicious -- yummy. Oh yes another place of interest for Indians is the “Chatpati”. It has some delicious chaat items like Samosa, Aloo Bhonda, Dhokla, Dahi Vada and the likes. They also serve pure vegetarian lunch and dinner buffet.

People with a sweet tooth should definitely visit the Krispy Creme and The Cheesecake Factory. At Krispy Creme you can actually see the fresh doughnuts being made. The warm original glazed doughnuts are my favorite. I bought a whole dozen to try all kinds of them. The Blueberry cake and creme filled ones were nice. The Cheesecake Factory is a heaven for cake lovers. I simply adored the three layer chocolate cake. This time we couldn't go there but I had gone there in my previous trip to Atlanta. Oh the three layer chocolate cake was out of this world.

Journey back from Atlanta to Harrisburg

The highlight of the trip back to Harrisburg was the Shenandoah Skyline Drive. In order to cover the Skyline drive we decide to stay overnight at Staunton.

 
We booked at the Microtel Inn & Suites. I must put in a special word for it, the room was beautifully done. It was the best among all the places we stayed on this trip. After a good night sleep we were ready for the day.

We started our Skyline Drive from the Rockfish Gap (South) entrance Gap. It’s a 105 miles drive, which would take about 3 hours when driving at the set speed of 35mph. There are three other entrance points for the drive. The drive was one of the best of our lives though beginning of the spring season was definitely not the best time to undertake the drive. The summers and fall season would be more apt. But we plan to capture its beauty in all the seasons in a year and hence we bought the year long pass for National Parks of US.

Some of the best scenic spots are the Calf Mtn Overlook, Moormans River Overlook, Riprap Overlook, Doyle’s River Overlook, Loft Mountain Overlook, Bacon hollow Overlook, Big Meadows, Lewis Mountain, Tunnel Overlook and Dickey Ridge Visitor Center. The drive is interspersed with lots of hiking trails. I particularly wanted take the trail to the Dark Hollow Falls.

If you get lucky you could spot some animals in the wild too. Deers are commonly spotted along the drive. Other animals to look out for are bears, squirrel and chipmunks. The Shenandoah National Forest campus also has lodging facility inside. We covered this 105 miles drive in about 5 hours. It was worth it.

After the skyline drive it was time to go home. We drove to Harrisburg from Staunton via West Virginia and Maryland. A long, beautiful and a bit hectic trip had come to an end but it had already sowed the seeds for some upcoming trips….