Well, it's that time of year again. The cherry blossoms at the tidal basin are blooming. I hustled over after work one afternoon and got caught up in the crowds.
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| Cherry Blossoms and Crowds |
It was overcast all day, but some sunshine came through at times.
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| Washington Monument and Cherry Blossoms |
The Jefferson Memorial still looks pretty bad. The dark stuff is still growing on the roof and the area in the photo below where the people are walking regularly floods, leaving muddy pools to walk through even on the sidewalks.
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| Jefferson Memorial |
The blossoms were at peak, with most of the flowers in the white stage, and only a few trees into the pink phase.
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| Cherry Blossoms |
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| Cherry Blossoms |
Back into the gloomy overcast, I got a hint of dramatic skies.
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| Washington Monument and Cherry Blossoms |
There was a steady stream of helicopters flying over. I think every pilot wanted to buzz the basin. When I heard them coming, I quickly switched to a slower shutter speed to get a shot with blurred rotors. Marine One flew over twice, although I think it was a training flight, not a flight with the president aboard. So I guess it wasn't actually Marine One, but a VH-3D Sea King configured for the president's use.
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| VH-3D Sea King, Sometimes Called Marine One |
And here's another helicopter, this time a Blackhawk, also buzzing the crowd.
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| VH-60N Whitehawk |
I wanted to go at dawn, but between work and driving my son around to his events and cloudy skies, I wasn't able to get the cool golden hour shots that I like. Maybe next year.
