The National Arboretum

I am currently at a conference in Boulder, CO and have been awake since 4:30am. I actually really like that I get to travel for work and see so many great places and meet new people, but I have a really hard time sleeping in hotel rooms. Don't know why. Maybe a mixture of jet lag, evening cocktails, and the bed being too squishy... Oh well, I guess it's perfect blogging time!

Get ready, this is a post about trees.

I actually went to the National Arboretum two weeks ago, but I had to share some photos because it was just such a beautiful day. This was only my second time going to the National Arboretum, I also went in the spring when the azaleas were in bloom. Those azaleas were beautiful, but these fall colors are something else. Where I grew up in California, there are not really seasons. There's like, maybe three weeks of temperate weather and then it either gets wet, cold, and rainy, or blistering hot for the next 5 months. While there are many reasons why I love the East Coast, I must say, the seasons are awesome.

Take it away, Mother Nature:

This tree was in the parking lot. The parking lot! I've never seen a more beautiful parking lot tree...

Those colors... This was in the Fern Valley section of the Arboretum.

These are the original columns from the US Capitol building. The photo doesn't do this justice but those plants were vibrant yellow and purple. Gorgeous.

Having been to the Arboretum before, I had also previously seen the bonsai tree exhibit. Before driving over to the Arboretum on this day, it crossed my mind that bonsai trees might change color with the seasons as well. Boy, do they...

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was my trip to the National Arboretum in photos. Thank you for sticking through this post even though it was mostly photos of plants. But, come on. They were freaking gorgeous plants.