Seems like just yesterday I made mention of the fact that Linda Lou Took Me To Skagit Flats Beaver Marsh Looking At Olympics as part of an ongoing multi-party effort to make me homesick for Washington.
In that particular blogging about that particular homesick issue I made mention of the fact that Miss Chris and Miss Sheila also contributed on that particular day to the making me homesick thing.
And then the following day it happened again.
Above is a photo sent to my phone by Linda Lou. All the text with the photo said was "Tulip Town".
Way back in the final decades of the last century, when the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival sort of exploded, overwhelming the valley with over a million visitors during a short time period, with the crowds particularly crowded on weekends, something had to be done to deal with the massive traffic jams.
There are multiple exists from Interstate 5 to the Skagit Flats, including three in Mount Vernon. The Mount Vernon exits had the heaviest traffic, causing backups onto the freeway, through town, across the river, and onto the flats.
And so measures were taken to direct Tulip viewers to exit any of the Skagit Valley I-5 exits, with signage directing the way to the Tulips. Bus tours were added where one could park at one of the valley's malls and hop a bus to take your Tulip Tour.
Attractions were added all over the valley so as to try and disperse the crowds. Hence Tulip Town was added, as a sort of backup to the extremely popular, crowded Roozengarde.
Helicopters were added so as to monitor the traffic so as to direct cops to bottlenecks to keep the traffic flow moving. I suspect by now the helicopters have been replaced with drones.
I think experiencing living in the midst of an actual tourist attraction is what caused me to react with puzzlement when I would read something in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about Fort Worth's imaginary tourists. Things like a sporting goods store would give Fort Worth the top tourist attraction in Texas. Embarrassing idiocy like that.
Washington has, I think, three Cabela's now. None of which try to claim to be the state's top tourist attraction. Has the Star-Telegram ever apologized to its readers for being part of the Cabela's scam?
I almost forgot about yesterday's homesick contribution from Chris and Sheila. Below is what those two put on Facebook yesterday from their current visit to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival.
The above photos all appear to be from the aforementioned Roozengarde. I asked Chris and Sheila if they got in a visit with Hank Frank, who lives close by, but I have yet to get an answer to that probing question.
I wonder what will make me homesick today?
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