Travel Review: National Cherry Blossom Festival
Saturday, 11 April, 2009 — travel
Last weekend, 5x5 and I hit the National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington DC. I’d heard the event attracted a crazy amount of people. But we weren’t expecting the sidewalk-clogging, traffic-stopping crush of humanity we encountered when we got there. It was worthwhile, and overall, I’m happy with the photos I got, we came away with some thoughts on what we would do differently.
First, taking Metro into DC was an excellent idea. We parked in Alexandria at Huntington Station, which has two parking decks, both of which were largely empty. Weekend parking is free, weekday parking is $4.50. That saved us from trying to get into DC on I-395 or near the Lincoln Memorial and promptly into Cherry Blossom traffic. The traffic we saw around the Tidal Basin was at a near constant standstill, drivers looked frustrated, pedestrians had little notion of right-of-way and there was no parking to speak of.
What didn’t go as well was arrival and departure at Smithsonian Station. It’s the closest Metro stop to the Tidal Basin, which means nearly everyone taking Metro to the Cherry Blossom Festival arrives there. As each train arrived, staff would clear arriving passengers off the platform out one entrance. Departing passengers were waiting at the top of the escalators to be granted access to the platform. Above ground, bullhorns were in use to enforce a one-way only traffic flow. Trying to head back to Alexandria via Smithsonian was futile. There were so many people at the intersection of 12th St SW and Independence Ave SW, it was impossible to stand on the sidewalk or see the escalators leading from street level into the station. We walked to L'Enfant Station instead, and that was fine. Federal Triangle was my other choice.
Walking around was low key and pleasant enough, but again, crowded. Next time, we might try visiting the Tidal Basin early in the morning. That might also help with the bathroom issue. There were port-a-potties set-up, but they were apparently associated with the Cherry Blossom Run the next day (and thus locked), not for general use. That left a bathroom on the east side of the Washington Monument and another at 15th Street SW and Independence Ave SW. The one at 15th and Indy’s wait ran about 30 min for women.
That delay was on top of an unanticipated extra hour and a half or so in traffic. We wanted to try a day-trip from Raleigh, and I was counting on a five hour drive and some change to actually get into downtown DC. We left later than anticipated, at 9 a.m., but didn’t arrive on the National Mall until about 3:30. The area between Fredericksburg, VA and Potomac Mills on I-95 just blew chunks. US 1 through Ft. Belvoir wasn’t much better, but it moved. Our big frustration was seeing the HOV-3 lanes completely closed even as northbound traffic was completely tied-up.
With just over two hours of walking-around time, we had fun, but 11 hours in the car is quite a price for it. Next time, instead of depending on traffic, we’ll probably do a long weekend trip, driving up on a Thursday evening and heading home Sunday afternoon. Alexandria’s a nice place to stay, has good restaurants and is walkable in it’s own right. Something near DuPont Circle in the District would also work.
Be sure to check out 5x5’s photos, too.