Spring Break: Cherry Blossoms and Snake

My parents flew up to visit us for Spring Break.  We had thought of going on a cruise together, but decided to do a staycation in Maryland instead.  I had long wanted to take the kids to various sites in Washington, DC.  When the kids were little we did most touristy things in DC, but hadn't in years, and the kids don't remember it well.

Coincidentally, the cherry blossoms were in full bloom the first weekend my parents visited, so we headed down to the Tidal Basin for the classic touristy walking loop around the basin.   We parked near the White House, and first walked by the Washington Monument.  

The whole area was teeming with tourists and it was hard to keep track of everyone and also hard to get photos because all the good spots had lines of people waiting.  In the next photos the Jefferson Memorial is in the background across the Tidal Basin.

From all the way next to the Jefferson Memorial, there is a good view of the Washington Monument, and you can even see the White house in the distance since they are all lined up in a row.

Jefferson Memorial:

The magnolia trees (below), not too far from the Jefferson Memorial, can be prettier than the Yoshino cherry blossoms in my opinion.  My favorite spring flowering tree is actually the Kwanzan cherry tree (not pictured).  We are lucky to have such pretty spring flowering trees. 

The Park Service recently had done some work on a section of the Tidal Basin to raise the sea wall.  In years past, during high tide, the path along that section would flood.  Unfortunately, as part of shoring up the sea wall in that section, they removed many of the cherry trees.  They planted some new ones, but it will take a while for them to get established and flowering again.

Our walking loop was about 4.5 miles.  Our next stop was the Lincoln Memorial.  The reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial offers nice views of the Washington Monument, and the Capitol Building in the distance.

Not pictured, but we also walked by the Martin Luther King Memorial, and the Vietnam Memorial that Lydia wanted to see because of her big National History Day project she had done on the Secret War in Laos.  And we also walked by the White House, though we didn't try to get too close because of recent added security.  

It was a long day, but everyone was a trooper. 

A couple days later, as we were leaving on a walk, Derek came to tell me some very exciting news: a SNAKE!  He wanted me to follow him to the backyard to see it.  I thought for sure that it would be gone by the time I got outside to the spot, but he insisted Lydia was keeping an eye on it.  When I got there I found not only a simple garter snake, but a snake eating a frog!!  The snake was a couple feet long, and garter snakes are not venomous to humans or pets.

The poor frog was definitely still alive and it was holding onto a stick trying to pull itself out of the snake's mouth.  The snake was absolutely terrified of the kids and me standing next to it as it tried to swallow a frog.  It clearly wanted to slither away, but couldn't because of the frog it was in the process of eating.  

We observed the snake for a long time until the frog was swallowed.  As soon as it had managed to rush and swallow the frog, it rushed off into the nearby pile of sticks.  The pile of sticks was there because Derek had created a habitat for snakes.  So clearly, the snakes like the habitats he is creating for them!