A Visit to D.C. In the Spring

The blossoms are in peak bloom around the Tidal Basin currently, so if you’ve been wanting to make the trip, now is a great time!

I thought I would share what we did, in case it’s helpful for anyone else who is planning to go down and is looking for some ideas!

If you’re anything like me, and don’t prefer to be there when crowds are at their highest… I definitely suggest getting an early start. 

We got down there around 6 AM to park on Ohio Drive, so we would be within walking distance of everything we wanted to see. Just a note, Ohio Drive is a one way road and they switched the direction of traffic, so Google maps currently takes you down the wrong side of the road. Make sure you look closely at the signs. It can be tricky to navigate. And yes, we were one of multiple people throughout the day that we saw driving the wrong way! Lol my mom almost had a panic attack with all of the “wrong way” signs glaring at us, but at least it was dark and there were barely any people on the road. At that point, it would’ve been more challenging to go all the way around to the other entrance, plus it was Google’s fault, so onward we went 😂 We made a quick U-turn for a parking spot though. I don’t recommend this, but again, barely anyone was around, it was dark, etc… 🙃

Anyways, after parking we walked over to the Lincoln Memorial. On the Spring Equinox each year, the sun rises behind the Washington Monument and shines into the Lincoln Memorial, directly onto Lincoln. It was still completely dark when we arrived, and no one was around. It was quiet as we walked up the steps of the Memorial towards the towering pillars encasing Lincoln. It was quite a different experience than visiting during the day. 

The sun rose around 7:15, casting a very golden glow onto Lincoln. It really had me thinking about the incredible intentionality with which some of these buildings were built. Somehow it gives even more meaning and depth when so much visible thought has gone into the process.

After watching the sun rise, we walked down to the Korean War Memorial. As a photographer, I just have to say, early morning or evening is just the better time to see these things! It was enjoyable being able to appreciate these memorials in the glow of the early morning sunlight (and with so few people).

After that, we went back to take a breakfast break in the car and thaw out (it was still really cold on Monday).

We walked over to the Washington Monument around 8:45, in hopes of getting tickets to go up and ended up with the last two free tickets they had for the day (my mom was absolutely elated haha). It would be better to get in line around 8 or 8:15 if you want more of a guarantee for tickets. The views from the top are incredible. You can’t walk up the stairs like you used to be able to, so you have to ride the elevator up. 

We walked over to the Tidal Basin after enjoying the views from 500 feet up and strolled around the entire loop. We made a stop by the Jefferson Memorial as we walked, then headed back to the car for a lunch break as it was already almost noon. 

This tree was hands down my favorite! It had the most incredible hue of pink.

This tree below on the left had clearly died, but was somehow sprouting new life again.

Just as a note, when we were over on Ohio Drive, even in the middle of the day, there weren’t a lot of people. There were some coming and going, but it was actually pretty peaceful and there are a lot of cherry blossoms along the Potomac River in that area. It would make a great spot for a picnic lunch! 

After lunch, we made our way over to Signers’ Island. This island gets its name from the fact that there are stones with the names of each of the signers of the Declaration of Independence there, scripted with gold lettering, in each of their own hands. I had visited this area once before, but never in the spring. There are quite a few beautiful Magnolia’s on the island, so it was definitely worth the stop! Plus, there weren’t very many people over in this area.

Cutest part of the day was these baby ducks!

From here we made our way towards the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. You walk through an area with several walls listing the names of those who were killed in action during the war, those who were MIA, POWs, etc. We learned from a tour guide walking through that the youngest soldier killed in action was 15 (he had lied about his age) and that there were 8 women killed in action, all of whom were nurses. Only one woman, out of those 8, was killed by enemy fire.

Our last stop was the World War II Memorial. It’s a beautiful memorial, but by this time, it was afternoon and pretty busy. I personally would’ve enjoyed visiting this one earlier in the day because it’s definitely more of an attraction for crowds, with its large fountain where kids like to dip their feet in and there are places to sit down and enjoy the view.

Enjoy these two iPhone pics because I was done taking photos with my camera by this point and ready for a nap.

I think we walked 6 miles at least, probably more. Overall, it was an enjoyable day!

~ Teresa