April

As mentioned in the March blog, DC is all about cherry blossoms in spring. There are advices during radio news breaks as to what stage the blossoms are currently at (FYI, there are six stages: green buds, florets visible, extension of florets, peduncle elongation, fluffy white petals and full bloom). Full bloom is much anticipated and there is a cherry blossom festival that spans a month in the lead up to and following said full bloom.

This year full bloom hit around 30/31 March. DC was crazy. Huge traffic jams and public transport chaos.

I took this picture on 25 March and you can see the trees were looking pretty good (I'm guessing stage 5).

Laura and I were in Ocean City for a cheer comp the weekend of peak bloom, so Russ and I decided to head into DC Tuesday of the week following as he had a couple of days off work. Unfortunately for us a huge storm blew through the area on the Monday night, causing cherry blossom carnage. 



The trees were beautiful, but nothing like they were the day prior (google images below to show how spectacular they are in full bloom).



On Wednesday night (2 April) Russ and Ben watched an NBL game between the Washington Wizards and Sacramento Kings at Capital One Arena. We managed to get great seats on a ticket re-selling app. The Wizards had a win in a pretty tight match 116 - 111.



The following weekend Ben had a Scout trip to Camp Tuckahoe in Pennsylvania, about two hours north of Arlington. 


On the agenda this time: caving and fishing. The boys walked, crawled and wriggled their way through Carnegie Cave. Again, no phones on the Scout trip, so no pics of his own, but a couple of examples below.

Obviously not Ben. Maybe in 20 years though!

Stunning formations.

After the caving the boys got the opportunity to fish. If you have been here from the start you will recall the many hours Russ and Ben put into fishing when we first arrived, with no luck. This time I am pleased to announce that Ben caught multiple fish. He was a very happy chappy.

The weekend that Ben went camping Russ headed off to Hawaii for just over a week as part of his American Studies course with War College.

Russ' final field trip as part of his American Studies program was to Hawaii, during the period 4-12 April where the class looked at the challenges and opportunities the US faced in the Indian and Pacific Ocean region. The trip included visits and discussions with The Indo-Pacific Command (the S Military Headquarters which is responsible for the Indo-Pac region), Asia Pacific Centre for Security Studies, the Defence POW/MIA Accounting Agency and attending a Luau.

The pools at the hotel

The beach out front of the hotel

 "The Duke", aka Duke Kahanamoku, king of surfing

You can't park there!

Waimea Waterfalls

While in Hawaii Russ visited Pearl Harbor https://pearlharbor.org/pearl-harbor-history/ and Punchbowl National Cemetery https://www.pearlharbortours.com/oahu/punchbowl-national-cemetery

Battleship Missouri

USS Arizona Memorial

Looking out over Honolulu from Punchbowl National Cemetery

The day after Russ arrived home from Hawaii, his mum and step-dad (Judy and Geoff) arrived. They spent a lot of time doing the usual DC tourist sites, and also went up to New York for a couple of days (trip planned by me, so they saw all my favourite things!!).

Having enjoyed our trip to Stone Tower Winery with Mike and Lynell (ref March blog), we took Judy and Geoff back for lunch. No pics, but while we were enjoying our wine and view, we were approached by a woman, who had been sitting on the table next to us, asking if we were Australian. Turns out she is from Perth, is the goalie for DC Power, the local National Women's Soccer League team, has been living here for almost a year, and really wanted a chat with some fellow Aussies!

On ANZAC Day we went up to Gettysburg Battlefield (where Russ went with War College - refer November blog). Our trip was much less formal and focussed more on the various monuments in the battlefield rather than the battle history itself (although Russ did prepare an overview of the battle for us to read prior).

We first visited the Gettysburg National Military Park Museum and Visitor Centre https://www.gettysburgfoundation.org/exhibits-tours-events/museum-visitor-center

Russ, Judy and Geoff outside the museum, feat. Abraham Lincoln.

We then did a self-guided driving tour of the battlefield. There are an incredible number of monuments to see around the battlefield, as detailed in this link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_monuments_of_the_Gettysburg_Battlefield

These were two of my favourites:

4th NY Infantry monument

4th NY Infantry monument

4th NY Infantry monument

State of Pennsylvania monument (a newly married couple were having pictures taken on the steps while we were there).

Judy and Geoff left us on the 30th April to spend a week on Hawaii on their way home.






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