Photo by Brian Allen.

No need to pinch yourself, this isn’t a dream. The cherry blossoms reached peak bloom today, the National Park Service says in ALL CAPS, the latest date in a decade.

Peak bloom means at least 70 percent of the blossoms on the cherry trees along the Tidal Basin are open. It also means that there will be a crush of photographers, tourists and brave D.C. residents in that area.

A special reminder to all of our friends from out-of-town: Do not pick the blossoms. Not only is it against the law, but it damages the trees. From NPS: “Picking them off the tree for yourself is not OK. Whenever a twig is broken off of a tree, new blossoms will never grow from that part of the tree again.” Never again.