It’s now a few days into Spring, at last! Sure, it snowed on the first day of Spring, but at the following day was pretty lovely – 61*F! It’s only a matter of time now before everything is in bloom. After all, the Cherry Blossom Festival has started and Capital Bikeshare’s #bikeinbloom unicorn bike is already out for people to find.
Speaking of blossoms and blooms, I decided that I am going to institute my own “-euring” event this spring. Inspired by the Fourth Annual Chasing Mailboxes Coffeeneuring Challenge last fall, I think I will do something similar yet very different. It will be my challenge (but feel free to do it yourself!), so no rules, submissions or patches, and no coffee will be involved. Maybe tea. Anyway, my idea is to bike to a new Arlington County park every weekend. Because I specifically want to see the flowers and gardens, I used the filter function on the County’s website to find parks with “ornamental/rose gardens.”
Parks with “ornamental/rose gardens”
There are 18! I did some further investigation and narrowed my list down to a few that look particularly interesting:
- Gulf Branch Nature Center & Park
- Rock Spring Park
- Lubber Run
- Glencarlyn Park
- Long Branch Nature Center at Glencarlyn Park
- Fort C. F. Smith Park
- Powhatan Springs Park
The Mechanic and I walk to Lubber Run fairly regularly, but we haven’t biked there. And we’ve biked past Glencarlyn Park but never stopped. And Powhatan Springs Park we have apparently passed, but never realized it was there. It has a bioretention area, so The Mechanic is especially interested in seeing that. The list is admittedly pretty short, but our weekends are pretty well booked already, so I don’t want to over-promise and under-deliver. By keeping our obligations minimal, we won’t be disappointed that we didn’t get more biking done.
Signs of Spring are popping up all over!
I am hashtagging this Spring/Summer event #bike2blossoms, and I invite you to try it for yourself – hashtag your pictures on Twitter and Instagram so I am sure to see them! What better way to enjoy Spring than to bike to parks to see flowers? Nature and bikes – two of my favorite things. 
tinlizzieridesagain 
I used to live near Lubber Run. I love that place. For a real blossom show, Bluemont Park has amazing azaleas on a hill side.
When I lived in Westover, I went there all the time! That and the Rose garden is sort of what made me think of this. Spring in this area is just stunning.