Tulip Festival

For years I have heard about the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, and yet have never attended the event which occurs April 1 to 30th, depending upon Mother Nature. This year the Festival has been extended to May 3, due to the late tulip bloom. Often as we have zipped by the fields when traveling north or south, we have caught a glimpse of the dazzling yellow, red, pinks, and purples, but that cannot prepare you for what it is really like during the tulip tour. There are of course tour busses, miles and miles of bumper to bumper vehicles stop and going along arrow straight roads, flaggers wearing orange vests, full parking lots, intersection signs pointing both directions for the tour… okay, which way should we go this time?

It is an absolute madhouse. But on a beautiful warm day in April, there are no impatient horn honkers, only smiles everywhere. There are families of all nationalities framing shots with their cameras. Picnics spread on the ground. (A few photos taken by Bob and Morningstar give a little of the flavor.)