Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Newark Cherry Blossom Festival Reminds Me of Japan!

*** Special note: Many apologies for the scarcities in my posts. I love that I have readers from all across the world and that you are military and non-military. Thank you for your support! I promise that I'll be blogging more frequently! ***

Happy Spring Everyone!!! I find it hard to believe that April is almost over and that Spring has rushed in. The weather in NJ has been fairly random lately - for instance it was 81 degrees on Saturday and today it's in the 40s and rainy. I think that Mother Nature is a bit confused. But overall, I'll do anything for those mini bursts of sunshine that seem to beckon to us. I always feel that sunny Spring days are the Earth's way of saying, come out and play!

This past Saturday was such a day, and I took full advantage of it. Branch Brook Park in Newark, NJ has one of the nation's most beautiful collection of cherry blossom trees.


After living in Japan, I have an obsession with the trees and have wished for quite some time, that I could walk among them again. The festival was spectacular and thousands of people, young and old, flooded the park to take a peak at what were the first blossoms of Spring.



I lived on the East side of Yokota AFB and I used to call one of the main roads Cherry Blossom row! The trees framed the street so beautifully and when they blossomed it was breathtaking. When the petals fell to the ground it would look like pink snow. Don't you think it looks like that?

The park and festival were truly the highlight of our day - and even a few wedding parties made an appearance. In total we saw six parties roll in and incorporate the blossoms into their wedding photo backgrounds. Below, there's two shots we snagged - the first because it's a classic pose and the second because I loved the bridesmaid's dress colors!

Overall, Dan and I had a blast and can't wait to go next year. We wished that we would have gone years before, but we're glad to have discovered it nevertheless. Who would have ever guessed that Newark held such a gem?

Here are a few shots . . .












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