サクラ祭 // Sakura Matsuri // Washington DC Cherry Blossom Festival

In Washington, DC, we have a festival every springtime to celebrate the coming of spring and to commemorate the friendship between the United States and Japan as symbolized by the many blossoming cherry trees given to us by the Japanese many years ago. The festival is two weeks long, starting with a kite festival (I accidentally stumbled upon it one day when I was out in DC with my family-- it is quite breathtaking to see so many beautiful kites aloft, flying in the breeze) and ending with a Cherry Blossom Festival parade around the Smithsonian Mall and a Taste of Japan festival day which showcases Japanese food, art, and performances. I was able to attend the festival last year (I was in the parade, actually!), but this year, due to scheduling conflicts, I was not able to be there for the last day of celebration.

Not that it mattered too much, in the end. The weather, being milder this year than the trees may have expected, caused the blossoms to bloom early, so my friends and I meandered down the way to see the cherry blossoms last weekend. They were gorgeous.

桜

Feeling like a complete tourist, I snapped pictures of every other flower in my path.

And mind you, there were a lot of flowers.

Tidal Basin の桜

Pretty, yes?

桜ーcloseup

More cherry blossom pr0n!!

The girls and the blossoms

And here are me and my friends, posing like flowers amongst the flowers! Wahaha!

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Alright, and I can't make a post in this food blog without actually posting pictures of edible materials, desho? SO!

My BIG, BROWN NUTS

We smelled them before we saw them, and for some reason there was NO LINE when we walked up to the stand to buy them. Too irresistible to forgo, we all chipped in to buy a "family-size" bag, which we couldn't finish, but it was still delicious just the same. Yay for roasted almonds!