Cherry Blossom Festival

With the performance in DC yesterday afternoon, I decided to take the whole day off work. I used the morning to get a few things done around the house and downtown that I had been putting off. At 11:30, I caught a ride into DC with six other members of BRTC TEAM and two younger kids. I was very glad not to be driving into DC!

Our performance was scheduled for 1:30 and we were only allotted 30 minutes. However, previous groups had run over, so they were running about 20 minutes behind. Plus, we were the last group of the day, so they told us we could take whatever time we wanted to.

The performance went alright. I made a few more mistakes than usual for a performance. Later, someone said they thought everyone had made mistake during the performance (which generally isn't so universal for an individual performance) and that energy levels were a little low. We didn't decide why. It was a beautiful day to be out dancing--warm, but not too warm. The audience was a bit far away (they were sitting on the steps of the Jefferson Memorial with the stage directly in-front of the tidal basin) but with bribes, we got some of the younger crowd up close and enthusiastic (at points some of the teens bordered on harrassment), at least for a few songs.

The performance wrapped-up around 3:00. The eight of us that had gone into DC together, plus two more people spent the rest of the day together visiting sites. We made it to: Jefferson Memorial, World War II Memorial, Korean War Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, and the Kennedy Center for part of the Millenium stage performance. Supper was at the Hard Rock Cafe--first time I've eaten at a Hard Rock Cafe, I believe. The Washington Monument was closed by the time we made it there and Einstein's statue was roped off, so the kids couldn't rub his nose. It was close to 11:00 when I made it home.

As always, a trip into DC reminds me of the beauty and treasure that is so close to me and inspires me (at least until I think about dealing with the traffic) to enjoy these sites of historic and cultural importance more frequently!