Venus is heading for its most favorable inferior conjunction in early April of this year, in the sense that it will pass north of the Sun with the greatest altitude among the five different instances of these events.  Here we see her still racing eastward against the stars and just having passed ascending node, meaning Venus is now north of the ecliptic.  Compare this view from Colorado with my image from eight years hence, January 25, 2001.  Unannotated image