Tulip Festival

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The Skagit River delta about an hour north of Seattle is a major tulip growing area. 25 years ago they realized people like to come up and see the tulips in bloom and they organized the Tulip Festival. It's usually in early April. This year we are having an unusually cool spring so the peak bloom period has been delayed a couple of weeks. I've driven by some of the fields in the past while going to other activities, but neither Carol or I had ever made a dedicated trip to see the flowers. Yesterday we decided that it sounded like a fun Sunday activity.

It turned out to be a fantastic thing to do with small kids. We knew it would be potentially wet and cold (it was 37 degrees when we left home) so we packed lots of warm clothes and the girls' waterproof boots and extra clothes in case they got soaked. That turned out to be excellent preparation, since the fields are pretty muddy. The other parents we encountered were envious of our kids' boots. We even stopped on the way to get Carol a pair of boots since she wanted some for gardening anyway.

Audrey and Charlotte liked the tulips, but for them the highlight of the day was miles of mud puddles. We visited one field for an hour or so and they splashed and stomped and waded and slipped and got their feet stuck and generally were delighted. Then it started to hail so we headed for the car and went to La Conner for a very pleasant lunch. After lunch we found another field that had a wider variety of colors. We started out intending to do a short walk around one plot, but we ended up wandering far afield and spent more than an hour at that location, too. Lots more splashing and stomping. Somehow we managed to get through the whole day without either girl falling into a puddle.

I can understand the popularity. It is wonderful to stand in the center of acres of brilliant color.

By the time we were done it was 2:30 and more than an hour late for Charlotte's normal nap time. She passed out about 1 minute after we started driving home. She was mid-bite in a graham cracker when she fell asleep and we got a photo of her sleeping with the cracker hanging out of her mouth.

A very fun family outing.