Now's a perfect time to take in the Botanic Garden, before the humidity and bugginess of summer sets in.

IT'S NEARLY 80 DEGREES OUTSIDE. The sun is shining. The birds are chirping. Spring is finally, finally in full flower on a blissful Friday, and where are we?

Yeah. Dullsville.

So, I set out to see how this wondrous day is treating a group of people who, unlike us, aren't working — the tourists. The answer: pretty darned well.

My first stop was the Capitol.

As you can see, the line for tours, located on the south side of the building, was growing pretty long. The sidewalks in front of the museums on Jefferson Drive SW were populated, but navigable.

Which meant plenty of tourist entertainment. I was walking past the National Museum of the American Indian when I heard a male voice frustratedly bellow, "Dude, it's a bus zone!"

The bellower was a guy in his late teens, "dude" was a similarly aged friend in a sleeveless shirt, and both had apparently thought they could sidle up to an open parking space right in front of the museum.

There wasn't any such confusion in front of the Air and Space Museum: not a patch of curb was open except a designated unloading area. I counted 16 buses in all, eight of them school buses.

The Mall itself was a jogger's paradise, and folks in shorts and running shoes were taking full advantage. As were families like the one pictured at right. And at least one pair of parents with their 6ish-year-old daughter strapped into one of those questionable child harnesses, complete with leash. Which just seems not quite right.

If you're a fan of spring flowers, you've got to make time to check out the Botanic Garden and Bartholdi Park, which sits across Independence Avenue from it. Now that the cherry blossoms have receded, they're surely two of the prettiest spots in the city.

In any case, I'm back in the office, so now it's your turn. Get outside if you can, just for a few minutes. Or knock off early. What the hell. Tell your boss the guy whose blog you were reading while you were supposed to be working said you could.

A few more pictures are below.

The tulips are out in force at the Botanic Garden. You'd be advised not to tiptoe through them, however. Somebody'll take you down.

Tour groups, school groups — you name it, they're checking out the Smithsonian's museums. Pictured here is the Jefferson Drive side of the Air and Space Museum.

Photos by Greg Barber/Express

Posted by Greg Barber at 12:51 PM on April 18, 2008
Tagged in Around Town , Free Ride , Smithsonian , The District , Top Stories