This weekend we visited the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. The weather was very cooperative and it was sunny with a cool breeze and temps around 60F. We stopped in La Conner (along with what seemed like the rest of the denizens of King and Snohomish counties) and had lunch at the Seeds Bistro for lunch. The kids had grilled cheese (with smiley face shaped fries), Jim and Nan had pulled pork and meatloaf sandwiches, Shaynee had a gargantuan burger, and I had a fried oyster sandwich (yum). Skagit Valley was swarming with many cars with British Columbia license plates (and terrible drivers, to boot). Apparently, tulips are a very Asian thing.
Next we followed the line of cars into the heart of the Tulip Tour. The kids seemed genuinely enthusiastic about the fields of tulips and daffodils (“It’s like someone painted the fields yellow!”). We stopped at La Conner Flats where they had fields and fields of tulips to explore. After the 1.5 hour drive, the kids were pretty ready to roam.
It was a lot of bulbs. The kids put together makeshift bouquets of the random leftover (i.e., semi-trampled) tulips they found on the ground, plus some dandelions. The farmstand sold bunches at $5/bunch or 5 bunches for $20. For future reference, this may be a better tulip destination than trying to brave the throngs of British Columbians trying to swarm Roozengaarde. Needless to say, the house is now decorated with lots of tulips. And a few wilted dandelions.
This was the first mini road trip that we have taken on the new tires and they performed admirably. Much quieter and smoother than the OEM tires. It really makes more sense to have a more versatile (all-weather) tire here in the Pacific Northwest, since we never have the hot dry weather that best suits summer tires, and there is lots of rain. The winter storm of 2011 highlighted just how useless summer tires are under winter conditions, even with quattro. Plus, I have determined that putting snow cables on low-profile tires in the snow is not much fun. Many reviewers said that they kept these all-season tires on their cars through the winters in Colorado and Michigan. We’ll see. We don’t drive into icy mountain passes enough to justify having a separate set of winter rims and tires. However, I may buy a set of AutoSocks to keep in the trunk next year. Just in case.
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