This was taken during a very (very) long hike from a makeshift parking lot in a football field to the gardens, with my knee still not feeling great. We learned when we were leaving that there was a shuttle (which we took back), but the traffic was so gridlocked near the grounds, it probably look longer than the hike on the bike trail. At least we got to see parts of the park we would never have seen otherwise, like this marsh.

Saturday was the first day of the annual Lotus and Water Lily Festival at Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens in northeast Washington, D.C. We had just missed the festival last year, so it was nice to be part of the festivities this time around. The place was packed – unlike last year -- but the flowers were in full bloom and beautiful. It never ceases to amaze me that places so full of nature like this exist in the middle of the nation’s capital.

The other star of the festival, posted earlier: