Tulips! etc.

Yesterday (Friday) I worked an earlier shift so I could leave for Skagit Valley after work. And I'm glad I did because yesterday was a perfect sunny 70 degree day. The skies were crystal clear and you could see for miles and miles. In western Washington that means breathtaking mountain views in the distance just about everywhere you look. Today is cloudy, rainy and bleak so yeah, I think I made the right decision by capitalizing on yesterday's pristine weather.



This was my first trip to Skagit Valley and let me tell you, it is a charming little valley surrounded by mountains - with farmland, cows, horses, and fields and fields of beautiful tulips, daffodils, and irises. Just lovely - heavenly even. The tulip field I stopped at was just outside the Rosengaard garden. The perfect rows of tulips were even more brilliantly and vibrantly colored than I imagined. Even the best photos don't do them justice. And when you are walking along you catch their light fragrance on the breeze, not too overpowering, just perfect.



The tulip festival runs the whole month of April but was extended by a week this year due to the late blooming. So you still have another week or so to catch the festival. I'm really tempted to go back again when I have more time to spend there, the irises are supposed to be in full bloom shortly. Now enjoy some more pics from the tulip fields and a couple of other stops I made yesterday.

On the way home I stopped at beautiful Camano Island State Park overlooking the waters of Puget Sound.

The next three photos were taken looking from left to right across the water.

Sunset - A beautiful ending to a beautiful day...