BLUE RIDGE BALLOON -- Hot air balloon flights twice daily year-round. Several sites in and around Charlottesville. 434-589-6213. www.blueridgeballoon.com.
JACK'S BOATS -- Kayak and canoe rental daily from April 1 to Oct. 31. 3500 K St. NW. 202-337-9642. www.jacksboats.com.
(Illustration by Isabelle Dervaux)
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NATIONAL CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL -- Through April 10. The annual National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade is April 9 from 10 to noon along Constitution Avenue NW between Seventh and 17th streets NW, and the Sakura Matsuri street festival is April 9 from 11 to 6 around Pennsylvania Avenue and 12th Street NW. 202-547-1500 or 202-619-7222. www.nationalcherryblossomfestival.org.
SMITHSONIAN KITE FESTIVAL -- Saturday from
10 to 4 on the Mall between 10th and 14th streets. 202-619-7222 or 202-633-1000. www.kitefestival.org.
THOMPSON BOAT CENTER -- Kayak, canoe and rowing shell rental daily through October. 2900 Virginia Ave. NW at Rock Creek Parkway. 202-333-9543. www.thompsonboatcenter.com.
THE COURSE OF LOVE, SMOOTH AND OTHERWISE
Anecdotal evidence suggests that for singles and those in search of a fresh start, the road less traveled is best, which is one reason for the apparent rise in the popularity of bike and walking tours among the unpartnered set. "The walking tours attract a strong portion of people who are young, attractive and single," insists Laura Brower at Cultural Tourism DC, which is presenting WalkingTown, DC on April 16 and 17, a program of 55 neighborhood walks of varying length and duration, all of them free. Which are the most romantic? Brower likes the tour of the Southwest waterfront ("It's so calm down there, and it's gonna change, but right now it's a lovely and charming place for a stroll"). WalkingTown trips through Capitol Hill and along the Anacostia waterfront also promise enchanting cityscapes and dramatic vistas. Washington Walks, a local tour company, offers a number of romantic walks as well, including "Memorials by Moonlight." (Stealing a few kisses in the shadows of Lincoln and Jefferson, you'll find that brushing up on democracy was never so fun.) "The Most Haunted Houses," meanwhile, includes a trip to the Octagon, where legend has it a young woman flung herself from the top of the spiral staircase -- all because of a love affair gone wrong.
Whether whizzing over covered bridges surrounded by wildflowers or down urban pathways lined with nursery stock -- bicycling in tandem (though not on a tandem) is amour incarnate. Here again, don't let singles have all the fun. According to Eric Gilliland of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association, the Capital Crescent Trail is popular with commuters and recreational cyclists alike, but it can still make for a great date. The 11-mile path kisses the Potomac in Georgetown before winding its way through Rock Creek Park to Bethesda, where you and yours can take in lunch and an afternoon movie. The closure of sections of Beach Drive on weekends makes the 25-mile Rock Creek Trail a popular and convenient destination, Gilliland says, and for lovers bent on going the distance, you can't beat the Washington & Old Dominion trail. Built on an old rail bed and just 100 feet wide, the 45-mile W&OD stretches from Arlington to Purcellville in Loudoun County, allowing unparalleled communion with nature close to home.
BIKE TRAILS -- The Washington Area Bicyclist Association has information about the Capital Crescent, Rock Creek and Washington & Old Dominion trails, including maps and information on trail difficulty. 202-628-2500. www.waba.org.
WASHINGTON WALKS -- "The Most Haunted Houses" tour offered Wednesdays at 6:30. "Memorials by Moonlight" tour offered by appointment only until Memorial Day, and then Saturdays at 6:30 through Labor Day. 202-484-1565. www.washingtonwalks.com.
WALKINGTOWN, DC -- April 16 and 17 from 8 to 8. Citywide walking tours -- 55 in all -- presented by Cultural Tourism DC. 202-661-7581. www.culturaltourismdc.org.
EATING YOUR HEART OUT
Cookin' Up a Storm is the name of a small culinary school run out of Janet Kuller's Potomac home, and the storm to which she refers is the one that occurs when 12 to 15 singles -- most previously unknown to each other -- get together to create and then consume a meal. A few hours and three to four bottles of wine later, Kuller says, "everybody's friends."
The success of the "cooking school date" is but one reminder of how food and romance are inextricably bound. The Judy Harris Cooking School, mindful that eating goes on long after those first flirtations fade, offers a couples-only class that features a menu acknowledging both the heartiness of true love (rib-eye steaks with a porcini mushroom sauce) and its periodic need for a jolt ("surprise potatoes," "sinful chocolate truffles").
Then there's the farmers' market, another place where love and the larder peacefully coexist. All the ingredients you need for a romantic Sunday brunch are at your fingertips, says Ann Yonkers of Farm Fresh Markets, which runs the popular Dupont Circle Market: Organic bread, farm eggs, bacon, sausage -- you name it. And as spring begins to blossom, so too does the variety of cut flowers available, from lilies and ranunculus to generous sprigs of cherry and apple blossoms, just the thing to decorate the weekend table. Saturday's lovers, meanwhile, can find a similar array of brunch staples at the Arlington Farmers' Market.
ARLINGTON FARMERS' MARKET -- Saturdays from 8 to noon. At North 14th Street and North Courthouse Road, next to the Arlington County Courthouse parking lot. 703-228-6417. www.arlingtonfarmersmarket.com.
COOKIN' UP A STORM -- Offers classes regularly in Potomac for groups of 12 to 15 singles. Call 301-299-0139 or e-mail cookinupastorm@comcast.netfor dates and times.
DUPONT CIRCLE FRESHFARM MARKET -- Sundays from 9 to 1. 1500 block of 20th Street NW between Massachusetts Avenue and Q Street. 202-362-8889. www.freshfarmmarket.org.
JUDY HARRIS COOKING SCHOOL -- Offers themed classes regularly in Alexandria for groups, including a "Festive Dinner Party" for couples on April 22 at 7. 703-768-3767. www.judyharris.com.
Scott Vogel is an assignment editor for Weekend.
