Cherry Blossom Festival tips: Skip it altogether

The National Cherry Blossom Festival continues through April 27, but peak bloom is expected to run only through Friday. So are you going to brave the crowds for peak bloom or wait a few weeks and risk missing out on some rapture

Take my advice and skip it entirely.

Here's the thing. Getting there from Baltimore is a huge giant pain in the neck no matter how you slice it. And, when you actually get to the Tidal Basin, you remember, too late, that other people don't know how to walk.

Also, and I hate to say it, but there's something about the layout of the Tidal Basin that effectively makes the blossoms less pretty in person than they do in photographs.

If you really want a good reason not to go, take a look at the hideously designed web page for the National Cherry Blossom Festival's entirely useless Cherry Picks restaurant program. The idea, once, was that participating restaurants were supposed to create special cherry-inspired dishes. That's a stupid idea — cherry season is months away — but at least it's an idea.

There are hundreds of great reasons to visit Washington, D.C. Do something else some other time. Stay home and enjoy spring at home.