Sakura Trees or Cherry Blossom Trees seems to be a difficult travel experience to schedule as the trees peak bloom dates vary every year. The first time I tried to schedule a vacation to view the sakura trees in Japan was in 2017. Usually, the first week of April is a safe date to schedule your vacation to view these trees. However, when my sisters and I visited Osaka for the first time, it wasn’t even peak bloom yet. There might be one or two trees in the entire location that we were in that’s in full bloom and a lot of people are in that one tree trying to get a good photograph.
This year, my sister want to experience the Cherry Blossoms in Washington, DC and when she was fixing our schedule, the National Park Service was predicting peak bloom during the Easter weekend. Unfortunately, due to weather changes, the peak bloom was a week earlier. We still pushed through with our vacation as she said it peak bloom usually last two weeks before the flowers changed to leaves.
On April 3, 2021, we had an early start and parked less than a mile from Lincoln Memorial. The majority of the cherry blossom trees in Washington DC is located at the Tidal Basin area. When we drived into DC, we were excited as the trees are still full of cherry blossom flowers. From the parking lot we booked on SpotHero, we tried the scooters which litter the streets. We didn’t taken into account the wide area of no parking zone for scooters in famous locations of DC. In the end, we had to walk from one place to the other just to reach our destinations.
Back to the Cherry Blossom Trees, we focused mainly in the area near the MLK Jr Memorial. Since it was early, the crowd was thin and you can still get some good photographs with the cherry blossom trees, we sat in one of the benches, had our packed breakfast and enjoyed the surroundings. It was calming and serene.
I’m just happy to have experienced it after my first failed attempt in Osaka. I would definitely attempt viewing the Sakura trees in Japan again preferably after COVID and with my husband. Hopefully I won’t miss them again.
Claudine on the Go 
Gorgeous! ❤
Thanks! They really are!