The basin path will be packed, but there are other places to view blooms. (TWP)

By John P. Martin
Washingtonpost.com Writer
March 27, 1998; 6:30 p.m. EST

The mercury is flirting with 80 degrees, Mother Nature erased all the clouds and the curtain is rising on Washington’s most dazzling rite of spring.

That’s right: The blossoms have finally bloomed, bursting through millions of tiny pink buds like champagne bubbling from a bottle after the cork is popped.

So roust your significant other, grab your camera (and some water) and join the thousands of others who’ll flock to the Tidal Basin and its surroundings over the next two weeks.

The Washington Monument is just a few minutes north of the Tidal Basin. (Dan Murano/washingtonpost.com)

Need help? Then keep reading. You might not learn the difference between a Weeping Higan (earliest bloomers, pink to dark white) and a Kwanzan (deep pink and the last to appear), but you’ll find some hints to enjoy the one Capital affair that’s free, fun to watch and scores high poll ratings year after year.

Your first step is to your car, which you’ll lock and leave untouched. You won’t need it and don’t want it, unless you’re training for the Daytona 500 and want to drive loops for hours without stopping.

"That’s a bad traffic area anytime," said Toni Carroll, spokeswoman for the National Park Service. But with cooperative weather and construction around the basin, the parking battle could get nasty.

Instead, take the Metro to the Smithsonian station, climb to the top of the Mall entrance and face the Capitol. Immediately turn around. (Signs of new life are rare on that end of the Mall.)