DC's Blossoms Kite Festival, in Pictures

Dear friend Jillian came up with a great idea for us this morning - walk into DC and enjoy the kite festival that was going on today. I love kites, so I was all for it. We parked at Gravelly Point and walked across the bridge into DC (we considered running, but walking was so pleasant, so it won out), which spit us out right at the Tidal Basin - the infamous location of the Cherry Blossoms, which tourists and residents alike flood every Spring for the beautiful buds. 

The blossoms had already come, shared their youthful radiance, and withered away to a dignified death by this weekend, when Spring Break brought more families - but DC takes care of its tourists, so while the Cherry Blossoms peaked early and missed the super heavy tourist week, the National Mall will not disappoint on any given weekend during the Spring and Summer. 

The Kite Festival was really quite awesome. I'm so glad we went. We ended up walking around for a couple hours - 4 hours, to be exact, from beginning to end. And I took lots of pictures - which is really the best way to discuss such a visual sensation. So here's what we saw as we walked around part of the National Mall, sticking closely to the Washington Monument:

 Dragon attack!

 The Return of the Red Baron 

 CROWDS! Masses of humanity converging on one spot...Nice bag, dude.

 Houston, we're ready for lift-off. (Houston wasn't really ready though - that thing didn't fly too well...) 

 Cute little duck, totally stuck in the fountain, bobbing around with the waves, thinking, "how in the heck am I supposed to get myself out of this mess?!"

 The little dots of kites circling the Washington Monument. And the above-mentioned duck, still just hanging out..

 One man's homemade kite, based on something to do with Lewis & Clark's documented encounters with at least 9 different Indian tribes - the kite's owner was very ready to chat about both the kite and the festival. We weren't quite prepared for his friendliness, but appreciate the tidbits of information we learned - like how trademarks and bankruptcy are two reasons why the festival is called "the Annual Blossoms Kite Festival." Neat-o, dude...

And for Nana, because every time I see flowers, I feel like I need to take pictures of them for her (they were prettier last weekend...):

And that was my Saturday morning/afternoon. So happy Spring is here! Winter hibernation - officially disbanded! Hello Life, good to see you again!