Cherry Blossoms? What Cherry Blossoms?

DC goes nuts for Cherry Blossoms.  They have a parade, a festival, they make hats and t-shirts, and they even have a Cherry Blossom webcam (although I haven't been able to get it to work).  There is probably Cherry Blossom flavored ice cream out there somewhere. If you rode the Metro on Saturday around 2pm, you would think perhaps there was a free puppy giveaway downtown.....every single metro car was jam packed, and they were even holding up arrivals into Smithsonian station because the platforms couldn't hold all of the passengers trying to see the trees.  Oh wow.

So, in an effort to catch some of the madness and avoid the tourist stampede, Rick and I walked down to the Tidal Basin tonight after work with my cam to snap some pics.  Even though all of the news broadcasts warned that "peak days" would by Friday and Saturday, I figured there would definitely be some pretty blooms to see tonight.

Rookie move.

This is what we thought we'd see:

And this is what we saw instead:

Yep, they weren't so pink anymore....guess all that tourist "clutter" actually had the right idea.  With all the buzz surrounding these dern trees, I was expecting them to be all over the city for viewing enjoyment.

Guess next year I better pack my fanny pack and get to the show on time.