The Christmas tree for the U.S. Capitol has been selected from the Sierra Nevada mountains on Saturday. The 65-foot white fir tree was cut down and loaded on a truck for its 4,500-mile trip to Washington, D.C.
According to officials, the tree was selected based on its shape and fullness and color.
When Crews arrived at the tree Saturday morning they found it covered in snow, said Jeff Crider, a spokesman for U.S Capitol Christmas Tree Tour, a nonprofit project overseen by the U.S. Forest Service, The Associated Press reports.
"It was 18 degrees, with four inches of snow," Crider said. "It's freezing up here and getting ready to snow again."
In preparation for its nationwide tour, work crews will encase a section of the tree in Plexiglas for the public’s viewing pleasure.
The tree is scheduled to arrive in Washington, D.C. on Nov. 28, with a lighting ceremony at the front of the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 6.
It will be decorated by 5,000 ornaments handmade by California residents, and House Speaker John Boehner and a child from California will light it, according to The Associated Press.
