On Monday, we ventured off-island to see the tulips in bloom at the Skagit County Tulip Festival. We took the “whoa-boat” (daughter speak for ferry) to Seattle and drove up to Mt Vernon where we met my uncle. We drove together to the RoozenGaarde display garden skeptical about the weather since reports were calling for storms starting mid-morning.

The garden reminded me of the rose garden in Portland but the tulips felt much more approachable than the roses.

There were quite a few tripod carrying photographers about and the planners of the garden do a pretty good job of providing interesting photographic scenes beyond just rows of flowers. My wife decided she likes the Ile de France the most while I leaned towards the deepest purples.

As we left I took a photo of the daffodil field next to the parking lot.

From the display garden we made our way to a field active with workers cutting flowers. The storms promised by the weather service finally started to materialize and some rain did begin to fall.

In an attempt to get out of the rain we drove to Tulip Town and the display fields since some of the exhibit is indoors. The storm passed quite quickly and we went out to walk the fields of gold (ugh, I hate that song).

The clouds were amazing and really helped add to the drama of the tulips’ colors.

The fields of tulips are really something to behold, your eyes actually have a hard time adjusting back to a landscape not entirely awash in color. My yard, which is primarily forest green save some rhodys just blooming, looks oddly monochromatic today. I do of course have a houseful of cut tulips though.

(More photos available here)