Cherry Blossom Festival

Last week my parents, dog, and I took a quick trip to D.C. to visit the Cherry Blossom Festival. We left as soon as I got out of work on Tuesday and drove through the night to try and make it into the city before rush hour. After reading warning after warning about the nightmares of driving to the festival, I was pretty sure our only shot was to get to the tidal basin early. Neither my mom nor my dog are able to walk a long distance and the Metro doesn't allow dogs, so parking away from the Mall and commuting in wasn't an option. 

Of course, we got stuck in traffic for over an hour and didn't get into the city until after 9. Yet everything still worked out. We found a too-good-to-be-true spot next to the Jefferson Memorial, and after thoroughly reading all of the signs, realized that we could park there all day for free. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom that day, which apparently only lasts for a 3-4 days out of the three-week long festival. The weather was gorgeous. Sunny, but not too hot. We were worried about Clover doing so much walking, but she absolutely loved it. We let her walk half of the time and then one of us would carry her to give her a rest. Clover lets us carry her like a baby, and there were quite a few people who thought that was the cutest thing. Clover can be quite the ham when crowds of people are giving her attention. 

After we walked around the Tidal Basin and saw the World War II Memorial, we headed in search of food. We skipped breakfast in the hopes of saving time and finding a parking spot, but after walking around for a few hours, we were starving. And perhaps more importantly, in desperate need of coffee. I really wanted to take my parents to Founding Farmers in Foggy Bottom, a restaurant I went to several times while I was in D.C. for a seminar at the Holocaust Museum a few summers ago. It had gotten warm out by this point, though, and we really weren't sure about leaving Clover in the car. Almost serendipitously, my dad found a parking spot a couple blocks away from the restaurant that was in the shade with a breeze. It was just one of those trips where everything seemed to work out just right.

Golden Harvest

Growing up, it was all my mom could do to get me to eat breakfast before school. I was not into eating cereal or oatmeal or toast at 6:30 in the morning, so in middle school my mom and I finally settled on Carnation Instant Breakfast as a compromise. When I joined the rowing team as a college freshman, I quickly became a breakfast fan. Our team would take over a section of one of the dorm's cafeterias and pile our trays full with omelettes, bagels, fruit and smoothies while talking loudly about boat lineups, upcoming regattas, and crew gossip. In hindsight, I'm sure we looked like a crazy cult to the "normal students" who had just stumbled out of bed in search of coffee to get them through their 8ams.

What was I thinking??

Entering the "real world" has put an end to such elaborate breakfasts during the week, however it has made me appreciate and look forward to breakfast and brunch on the weekend that much more. Last weekend, my friend Kate and I decided to try Golden Harvest, a popular local breakfast joint in Lansing's Old Town. We were both Golden Harvest newbies, but thankfully friends who had been there before advised us to get there early, as the line gets long quickly. We got there over half an hour before the restaurant opened, and we still weren't the first ones in line! But thankfully close enough to the front to ensure that we got a table when the door opened a few minutes after 8.

We were greeted with dubstep music and steaming hot coffee the minute we walked inside. There are only a half a dozen tables in the restaurant, so smaller parties, like Kate and I, are asked to share a table. And by asked, I mean told. Golden Harvest is unapologetic about their rules and their vibe, which was one of the reasons I liked it so much. The place screams eclectic, from the building's exterior to the decor on the walls to the food served. In order to maximize our first Golden Harvest experience, Kate and I decided to order two dishes to share. We settled on two of their daily specials: Stella's raspberry pancakes/waffles and a BLT omelette. They did not disappoint, and were both well worth getting up at 6am on a Sunday. I'm sure we'll be back again soon.