This weekend was the first weekend of the spring that hasn't been terrible. Weather-wise, that is. As such, I'm going to post pictures from my weekend of lovely weather despite the fact that it's now Tuesday. I meant to do it yesterday, but wouldn't you know, the weather was nice then too. It's actually lovely today also, but I'm making the sacrifice and posting pictures instead of basking in glorious, glorious sunshine. I can't guarantee thoughtful commentary on said pictures though. You might have to wait for winter for that. Or until it gets so hot that I prefer staying inside with air conditioning. Spring just isn't conducive to blogging.
On Saturday I went to the Japanese Cherry Blossom Festival at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. It was the perfect day for it. And like all festivals in New York on beautiful days it was insanely packed. Brooklynites are enthusiastic about their cherry blossoms.
Straight up was the only view of cherry blossoms I could get that didn't have hoards of people in the way.
So many people. So many cherry blossoms.
The Brooklyn Botanical Gardens has a number of non-cherry blossoms. I risked my life kneeling to get these shots. Crowds of flower-viewers don't stop for anyone. Then again, I may have tripped over a couple of kneeling nature photographers myself, so I fully sympathize.
After paying the $15 entrance fee and walking amongst the crowds for an hour or so and eating a slice of cherry pie, my friends decided the sunny day would be much less crowded if we just walked around the park for free.
That's what we did. Observe Prospect Park. Try to guess which curly-haired silhouette is me.
On Sunday, it was yet again nice (sometimes New York surprises me). This time I journeyed north on the train upstate to Breakneck Ridge. My friends and I didn't complete the full hike because it's 5 miles mostly uphill and we're whiners, but we did get some lovely views of the Hudson Valley along the way.
This is the only view I seem to have gotten. All of the others have people in front of them. And speaking for myself, hiking is not when I am at my most photogenic. For one thing, putting a backpack on inevitably causes me to hike my thumbs through the loops and jut my elbows out as I like to imagine mounties do. I call it my hiking stance, but it really shouldn't appear anywhere publicly.
That about wraps up my weekend of gorgeous weather. I hope to have at least one more of these before it becomes hot and humid and walking outside makes me feel sweaty and dirty. Not that that doesn't photograph well also.
Breakneck Ridge is awesome! It's really close to Colin's parents' house, so we hike it a couple times each summer. Beautiful views!
ReplyDeleteNice pictures! Did you take them yourself? Obviously not the one of the curly silhouette. I think you are on the right.
ReplyDeleteHave you been to see cherry blossoms in DC? There you have a traffic jam along with the crowds.
Kari--That's awesome! I plan to do it again (and more fully) at some point. I think one of our problems is that we started a little later than we should have. Sunday mornings will do that to a person.
ReplyDeleteFT--I think most of these pictures I took myself, except obvious for the one with me in it. And you're right, I am on the right.
Wow those pics are gorgeous! Good for you not being too cheap to pay. Occasionally I'll surprise myself and splurge and cool cultural experiences (we went to the symphony last weekend, so that was a splurge) but most of the time I just go to free stuff. :)
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