Every year about this time, pictures start popping up on all sorts of media of the beautiful cherry blossoms in Washington DC. For many years, I talked about going to see them, but when I actually got around to planning anything, I had missed my window of opportunity and the blossoms were all gone.

Three years ago, I FINALLY made it to DC to see these amazing trees in all their glory. I read somewhere that the sunrise is beautiful if you watch it come up from the Lincoln Memorial. Since sunrises are one of my favorite things, and crowds are not, I came up with this crazy plan to leave my house at 4 am and park myself on the steps of the memorial until the sun came up. I would then take a stroll around the tidal basin to see the cherry trees before all the crowds arrived for the day.

Only one of my kids was up for joining me on my crazy adventure. My youngest daughter, Alyssa, jumped at the chance for some one-on-one time with her mom, and gladly got up on a Sunday morning at 4:00 and headed to DC with me. We parked behind the Jefferson Memorial on Ohio Drive SW and hiked a mile to the Lincoln Memorial. The sunrise was indeed spectacular and the cherry blossoms were breathtaking. We made it back in time for church, but we had to elbow each other all through the sermon to stay awake. Maybe Sunday wasn’t the best day to choose to get up so early!

This started an annual tradition for us. Last year, we were joined by another mom and her kids, and another one of my daughters joined us as well. The trees were still magnificent, but it was too cloudy to actually see the sunrise. This gave me a few more ideas to improve my planning for this trip.

This year, I watched the weather more carefully, as well as keeping up with the peak bloom predictions at cherryblossomwatch.com and we chose Monday morning for our trip. Even though it was a chilly 32 degrees when we arrived in DC, the skies were very clear, and I knew we would be in for a spectacular show when the sun came up.

All four of my younger kids went with me. I had a friend and her kids join us as well, and we met up at 4:30 at the local park and ride. They all climbed in my big van and we were off! One great thing about leaving so early in the morning, is that there is absolutely no traffic on the way down! The trip to DC usually takes about 80 – 90 minutes from where we met. It took us 54 minutes – no speeding!

I park on Ohio Drive SW near the Franklin D. Roosevelt memorial for this particular trip. They make it a one way road with free parking available on the left. At 5:15 in the morning, there are ample parking spots to choose from, even for our 15 passenger van. From there, it’s about a half a mile walk to the Lincoln Memorial, and there are a few cherry trees along the way!

Another helpful thing that I discovered, especially when taking this trip with kids, is that there are bathrooms under the Lincoln Memorial! Finding a bathroom in DC at that hour of the morning is not something I look forward to, so this makes our trip a lot easier. Oh, and they’re heated.

After a quick stop in the bathroom, we all climbed the steps and sat down to wait for the sun to come up.

Bit by bit, the sun emerged from behind the skyline. There were several photographers at the memorial and a few other observers despite the chilly morning. The view did not disappoint!

Once the sun was up and we had gotten our fill of pictures, we headed over to the tidal basin to see the cherry blossoms.

We entered in by the Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial, turned right and walked by the water until we got to the Franklin D. Roosevelt memorial where there just happens to be another bathroom! We got lots of pictures of the trees and totally enjoyed the beauty of God’s creation before heading back to the car, which, if you remember, was parked just outside of the FDR memorial.

I absolutely love this tradition! I hope that some of my tips for this trip are helpful for those who would be crazy enough to try this! If you can handle the early morning wake up, it is totally worth it!