Washington DC Cherry Blossom Festival Report

We took a quick trip to DC last week to see the cherry trees in bloom around the tidal basin. We stayed two nights. It is hard to plan a trip like that in advance because it is hard to predict the peak bloom dates.
[/img]
We got a room at a Hampton Inn on the east side, in Maryland actually. It was less than a mile from the Branch Ave. METRO station; the green line. We got there about 3 pm, the hotel had a shuttle to the train, and we were walking around the tidal basin by about 4:00. It cost $4 one way. We transferred to the blue (or silver)line at L'Enfant Plaza station and rode to the 1st stop to the west; Smithsonian stop. It was less than a mile walk to the tidal basin.

[/img]
It was a great weather day; upper 60's and sunny. It was crowded, but taking the train helped a lot.
[/img]
[/img]
[/img]
The next day it was much cooler w/a light rain. We went to National Harbor, which I not heard of before. It was about 5 miles down I-495 from our hotel and well worth the visit. The main area is not a very large; maybe 6 city blocks square. There were numerous places to eat, a handful of hotels, a Gaylord Resort and Convention Center and many condos/apartments. All high end places.
[/img]

[/img]
They have statues of iconic Americans and American images scattered around. These are a few of them.
[/img]

And they have an Air Force One, or at least a replica. It was not open.
[/img]
We left and went to Alexandria for lunch, which was just across the river on 495.
We went back to Nat. Harbor for supper that night and ate at The Walrus Oyster and Ale House; it was Happy Hour.
[/img]
The slider, oyster Rockerfeller and deviled eggs with a fried oyster on top were very good. The shrimp was so-so and we did not like the crab claws.
They had 6 to 10 different items and you ordered as many as you wanted except for the deviled eggs which came 4 to the order. It does not look like much food but we were full.
[/img]
[/img]

The Hampton where we stayed was ~$155/ night plus tax. There is a Hampton at Nat. Harbor for about twice that. We had planned on staying on the west side of DC at the Hilton at Ballston as we had stayed there before and there is a METRO stop in the same block as the hotel. And there are good restaurants nearby. But they sold out;they were about $275/night plus tax.

The nearness of the METRO was why we selected the hotel we did and it worked out well. The train was close, easy on & off of I-495 and a short drive to Nat. Harbor and Alexandria. And saved $ on the hotel vs. the other place we were looking at.

On the first day as we were walking back to the METRO we stopped by the Holocaust Museum and they were sold out of tickets for the main show. We asked about getting tickets for the next day and she said they only sold them the day of. She recommended getting them on line early in the morning or being there around 9:30. They did have some other self-guided exhibits that were open and we did look at those but we were tired by then and were in and out quickly. We'll see that next trip and try and go when it is less crowded.