Tulip Town, WA

Every year for the entire month of April the Skagit Valley springs alive with tulip mania....thanks to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. Hundreds of thousands of visitors from Washington, British Columbia, and beyond converge on the colorful fields to take in the sights of this lovely flower. You never know exactly when the tulips will begin to fully bloom, but luckily for me, many of the fields were blooming when I happened to be up in the region. 

One of the most popular destinations is Tulip Town where you can stroll through the fields, browse local arts and crafts shows, and savor delicious foods. As for me, all I wanted to do was photograph the flowers! The sky was a bit overcast when I made my visit, but the sun made occasional appearances and showered its warmth upon the vast flowering fields. 

Would you like to tiptoe through the tulips?

Want more information about where I shot these pics? Click HERE.

Fir Island, WA

For spring break, F and I headed north to my favorite spot: the Pacific Northwest. During our brief but relaxing stay, I hooked up with my blogging buddy Dave from WildFidalgo who introduced me to beautiful Fir Island in the southwestern corner of Skagit County. Fir Island is an important habitat for wildlife. The Canadian snow geese make it their resting place during the winter months when they can be seen by the thousands as they feed in the many agricultural fields. The wildlife preserve is a wonderful place to do birdwatching, which is what we did. We parked in one of the lots and strolled along the dikes. Solitude surrounded us except for the many chirping birds, quacking ducks, and, crying eagles.  It was still early in the season, so the trees were bare, but that allowed us better views of the birds and waterways. Here's a quick tour of the surroundings, (sorry you bird lovers, my lens wasn't quite able to capture those little critters!)

Starting out along one of the dikes...

That's an eagle's nest in the tree on the left side of the photo...

The waterways opening up to the bay...

The Skagit Bay estuary with the snowcapped Olympic Peninsula off in the distance...

A tree tunnel forming along one of the old dikes...

Heading back to the parking lot...

Calm waters...

Pretty spring flowers lined the trail...

After we left the wildlife preserve behind, we stopped to photograph Fir Conway Lutheran Church...

Daffodils left over from the Easter Sunday celebration...

Blue skies!

Check out Dave's blog where you can view gorgeous shots of the Canadian snow geese. And if you ever find yourself roaming around the Skagit Valley, do check out wonderful Fir Island. You won't be disappointed!

Around San Ramon -Early Spring

I recently walked over to Forest Home Farms Historic Park and strolled around the picturesque grounds to exercise my Nikon a bit. It's early spring and the ornamental trees are already flowering. The hills are finally transforming from their golden hues to shades of emerald green. It's been very dry here lately and the sun has been making a daily appearance. Hopefully we'll get a bit more rain before the dry days of summer.

Forest Home Farms is a historical park. It's not open on a daily basis, but it does have special event days. In any case, it's a very pleasant spot for getting back in touch with San Ramon's pioneer past.

Here's the Boone Family 16 acre farm...

This footbridge takes you over to the Victorian style home

and museum known as the Glass House...

Come by for a visit some day. You'll enjoy it!

Click here to see other shots from this locale.