Tulips in the Valley: A Day Trip for Everyone

I want you to think of a day trip to see the tulips in the Skagit Valley as a perk. If you are within driving distance, you should see it.

It is a wonder of the world - one that happens once a year and gets everyone talking. How could you be within driving distance and not go? It's worth it for the Christmas card photo opportunities alone! In a nutshell, the day consists of driving on paved roads admiring the fields (see the yellow and red rows above) and stopping to take photographs - selfie sticks encouraged.

When you are ready to see the tulips up close and in arranged gardens, head to RoozenGaarde or Tulip Town. Before you leave home, be sure to visit the Skagit Tulip Festival website and print the bloom map so that you know which turns to take through the farmland.

After driving around the area, we parked at RoozenGaarde and had a picnic in our car before heading into the formal gardens. The area does have a snack bar, visitor tent with picnic tables (for shade, cover or warmth, depending on the weather) and porta-pottys. Their gift shop is wonderful and I know that you'll want a memento. Of course, they also have a tulip tent where the bulbs you have admired are available for order.

Could we have had a prettier day? Dan had a vacation day on Good Friday and there was sun in the forecast. Everybody get in the car! My mom has spent the winter out in Washington and she has been talking about seeing the tulip fields in bloom for months. I was so very happy that we had a beautiful day to show off our new part of the country. See my post featuring the daffodils here.

RooseGaarde has formal areas planted around their property (most labelled with the variety) and you can bring camping chairs or a picnic blanket to sit on the open lawn and just soak up the beauty of Spring.

There are beautiful plantings everywhere you look and as you can see, the bulbs are in full swing right now. This is a parrot tulip (below). I love the curled edges and touches of green on the apricot petals.

Grab some friends and insist on a road trip to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival in Washington. It will give you the Visual Vitamins TM that you need after a long rainy Winter.