DC Water Lantern Festival

My family came to visit this past weekend, from New York City. We had tickets to the DC Water Lantern Festival at the National Harbor in Washington, DC. The day ended up being a roller coaster ride of widely diverse emotions. I spent dinner wildly anxious about the time. My anxiety then refocused on the large amount of people at the event. Luckily, we found a spot along the harbor relatively far from the chaos, and the event offered some beautiful moments of reflection and gratitude. Feelings of tranquility finally transformed to ire when we found ourselves stuck in a traffic standstill in the parking garage, unable to even exit for an hour (do NOT park at Fleet Garage, by the way). At the end of the day, nonetheless, I was grateful to have lived a memorable day with my family.