When we found out my Mom and Val would be visiting in April
I knew I wanted to take them up to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival in Mount
Vernon, WA. The only day Justin could
take off of work was Friday so we didn’t have much flexibility to pick a day
based on the best weather so we crossed our fingers and hoped for the
best. Our van only seats seven,
but we squeezed in an eighth body throughout the week since we weren’t traveling
long distances and so comfort wasn’t a big deal. There’s no way we could have managed to fit nine in the van
and because taking two cars wouldn’t be nearly as fun as all traveling together
we decided to rent a big van for the day.
They only had a 15 passenger van available on Friday so we had plenty of
space.
Our first stop was at the Snow Goose Market for “immodest”
ice-cream cones. Unfortunately,
the were cleaning out half of their freezer displays so all the premium
ice-creams were unavailable. It
was still relish!
We used to drive around the tulip festival and just pull
over the side of the road at pretty fields; however, now parking on the side of
the roads is strictly prohibited.
The last few times we gone up Justin has insisted on driving around
trying to avoid paying for admittance to a legit tulip location and been
unsuccessful. I think we’ve finally come to accept that visiting the tulips
will never be free again so we drove straight from the ice-cream store to
Roozengarde. Val hooked us up with
a handicap parking pass so we got a sweet little spot right near the entrance.
We visited early in the season so the fields weren’t quite
at their peak, but there was still enough color and beauty to enjoy.
We ate a quick lunch at Costco and then we were back on the
road headed to Deception Pass. We
walked down to the beach to skip rocks and check out the beautiful bridge
views. We even spotted a seal
swimming just off shore.
There was a little debate over how many times Justin could
skip a rock. How many do you see?
Up next was a stop at Fort Casey. The kids typically play tag with flashlights, but I don’t
think it really took off this time.
I walked around the property with my Mom and Val checking out the
cannons, bunkers etc…
Only Justin, Jason and Drew got out of the van when we were
on the ferry from Whidbey back to the Seattle area – so we are missing the
traditional picture of everyone standing on the bow of the boat standing in the
crazy wind. My Mom treated us all
to dinner at Café Rio and then we picked up a few groceries at Costco for
Katie’s birthday/baptism the next day.
We got home late – it was a full day of travel and sightseeing. We totally lucked out with the
weather. It wasn’t warm and sunny,
but any rain we did encounter happened while we were driving in the van so we
were able to see and do everything we wanted to. What a fun day!
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