The Adventures of Jeff and Jen: Cherry Blossoms at Lake Balboa

Last February, when I was 1 month away from giving birth to Caitlin, I learned of a park not too far from our home that bloomed cherry blossoms every Spring, called Lake Balboa. According to Yelp and other online sources, the trees bloomed sometime in mid-March and the blossoms were extremely abundant and beautiful.

A photo of Lake Balboa found on Yelp

I was unsure if I would be able to visit the park since I was due exactly in mid-March (the 14th). If I went before mid March, maybe the trees would not have bloomed yet. If I wait too long, then I would be stuck with a newborn and not be able to go! Then I found a website that published weekly updates on the cherry blossom status, and on it's latest update, there were no blooms yet. Needless to say, I waited and waited and I eventually waited so long that newborn Caitlin arrived and I never got to go to the park.

This year, I was not going to let that happen.
Around late February, I scoured the internet looking for updates on the cherry blossom status. No recent mentions on Yelp. And the site with the weekly updates has not been updated since Spring of last year. Finally, on March 23rd, I checked on Yelp, and voila! A couple of people posted updates saying that they went the previous weekend and the cherry blossoms were in full bloom and to hurry on over.

Now, Jeff already knew that I have been wanting to visit the cherry blossoms for over a year. The following day, we drove on over to Lake Balboa to shower ourselves in cherry blossom goodness. Upon arriving, we saw some sparse cherry blossom trees with a few blooms.
Was that it?

the reality

With Caitlin, a picnic blanket, picnic food, and a heavy diaper bag in our arms, we trudged along the perimeter of the lake in search of abundant, lush, soft, pillowy, cherry blossom canopies. After walking along about 1/3 of the way around the lake, we decided to simply picnic there. The sparse trees was as good as it was going to get.

we picnic-ed under the lushest tree we could find

yes, those are fries. stop judging me.

Don't get me wrong, I still had a wonderful time at the lake and the weather was so perfect for the occasion. Also, it was nice seeing cherry blossom trees for the first time. But it was a far cry from the expectations I built up inside my head. Maybe we went too early? Or too late? Or it was just a crappy year for the cherry blossoms in LA?

the lovely ladies

feeding her fingers to the swans

Overall, the three of us had a lot of fun and I was in full smiles knowing I got a camera full of pictures, a brain full of memories, and one more item scratched off my to-do list.

View the entire Lake Balboa album here: