CBS Sunday Morning With Nephew Jason Takes Us To The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival & Roozengaarde

Incoming email from FNJ (Favorite Nephew Jason) with a link to a CBS Sunday Morning look at Skagit Valley Tulips in Bloom.

Click the link to watch the video for a look at my old home zone when the Skagit Valley is in ultra colorful mode.

What you see above and below are a couple screenshots from the video.

The above photo is at the Roozengaarde location.

In the video you get to see what a HUGE operation Roozengaarde is, along with seeing the complex automated way tulips are processed for shipping.

The Skagit Valley Jones Family Compound is close to Roozengaarde. 

When I lived in West Mount Vernon the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival time of the year, lasting a month, was a bit of a nuisance, traffic-wise.

Much has been improved over the years by spacing out various attractions, like adding Tulip Town, turning some roads into one-way only. Helicopters monitoring traffic flow. Busses bussing Tulip Tourists to the Tulip Zone.

And directing tourists heading north or south on Interstate 5 to use any of the Skagit Valley's exits from I-5, then follow the directional signs to the Tulips. Prior to pointing out the multiple exits, most incoming Tulip Tourists would exit the freeway into downtown Mount Vernon. This created massive traffic jams.

I think the last time I was at Roozengaarde was with my mom and dad. They talked me into going to an Easter morning sunrise service at Roozengaarde.

The last time I was in the Skagit Valley during the Tulip blooming time of the year was in April of 2006, when I was in Washington to attend nephew Jason's wedding to his first wife. I do not recollect seeing any tulips at that point in time..

Seeing Skagit Valley Daffodils With A Few Daffodils In Wichita Falls

This morning, on Facebook, the Skagit Valley's Miss Carol BD posted a photo featuring some daffodils.

I commented regarding that photo, saying I seldom see such things as daffodils and tulips at my current North Texas location.

But that yesterday I did make note of driving by a small patch of daffodils, and that I might photo document that daffodil patch today, if I remembered to.

Which I did. Remember, that is.

Below is that rare North Texas daffodil patch, spotted near the intersection of Midwestern Boulevard and Maplewood.

That photo at the top, that is a field of Skagit Valley daffodils in a photo from the Seattle Times.

That big white thing hovering above the daffodils is the Mount Baker volcano.

In front of Mount Baker, those are what are known as Cascade Mountain foothills.

The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival will soon be happening, with the Skagit flatlands carpeted in multiple colors, from multiple types of flowers, but, primarily tulips.

Over a million visitors descend on the Skagit Valley during the Tulip Festival.

Striking Workers Won't Stop Skagit Valley Tulip Festival From Blooming

It has been awhile since I have made mention of something I read in a west coast newspaper, such as the Seattle Times, that I would not expect to be reading in a Texas newspaper, such as the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. 

That which you see above is sort of an example of such, due to the fact that there are no flower fields in the vicinity of Fort Worth. That and the concept of unions and striking is anathema to Texans who have been brainwashed into believing unions and strikes are bad things existing only in liberal, left wing, socialist, communist areas of America and the world.

I don't think a strike by the tulip field workers will much affect the month long Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. A strike won't stop the flowers from blooming. A strike will affect the flower bulbs being harvested after the blooming is done.

Go to RoozenGarde's Instagram and you will see why the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival has attracted millions of visitors to the Skagit Valley over the years.

There was some talk of me being in the Skagit Valley during this year's Tulip Festival time, staying at the Jones Family Compound on Beaver Marsh Road, near the epicenter of the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, that being RoozenGarde. Unfortunately that is not going to happen.

Currently I do not know if the previously planned trip to Washington this coming summer is going to happen. I suspect it won't.

In the meantime, I think a sufficiently warm temperature had arrived at my location, making a bike ride an enjoyable experience in a couple hours....

Linda Lou Tip Toes Us To Tulip Town With Chris & Sheila

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?

Tiptoe With Me Through The Skagit Valley Daffodils

I saw that which you see screen capped above this morning on Facebook, via the "You Know You're From Anacortes When..." Facebook page.

The caption says "Daffodils are beginning to pop up around Skagit County. This is a field located across from Christianson's Nursery in Mount Vernon".

To which someone commented saying, "That's what I miss the most since I moved away..."

The Mount Vernon town referenced is the town I live in before moving to Texas. For Flatlander Texans reading this, that big wall of blue in the distance, behind the daffodils, are what are known as foothills. In this case, foothills of the Cascade Mountains.

Anacortes is not part of the Skagit Valley, but the town is in Skagit County. Anacortes is on Fidalgo Island, and is the location of my nephew Jason's Fidalgo Drive-In.

The flowers blooming in the Skagit Valley every spring is not what I miss most since I moved away. I think fresh produce, readily available, along with fresh seafood, also readily available, I miss more than seeing fields of colorful flowers.

This century I have been back in the Skagit Valley only one time during the tulip blooming time of the year. That being April of 2006, when I was in the valley to go to the aforementioned Nephew Jason's first wedding. That time I was in the valley for only part of one day, and during that day we did not drive out to the Skagit Flats, where the flowers bloom.

When I lived in Mount Vernon, particularly when I lived in West Mount Vernon, before moving across the river to East Mount Vernon, I was not all that fond of the tulips and the throngs of visitors the flowers brought, from all over the world, to the Skagit Valley.

The month long Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is an extremely well done operation. The festival began several decades ago, and created massive traffic problems from the start. Which is why I was not all that fond of this event, whilst living in West Mount Vernon.

But over the years multiple fixes have greatly exacerbated the traffic congestion. Things like directional signage, alternative freeway exits to keep Mount Vernon from getting clogged up by people exiting via the Mount Vernon exits. Tour buses were added, where people could park at one of the valley's mall's parking lots and ride a bus to tour the tulips. And venues were added, like Tulip Town, to spread the visitors all over the Skagit Flats.

The Skagit Valley is pretty much one BIG tourist attraction. It's the gateway to North Cascades National Park. La Conner is the valley's top tourist town. Anacortes is where you find the gateway to the San Juan Islands, via ferry boats, which will also take you to Victoria, British Columbia.

Where I currently am located, in Texas, there is not a single tourist attraction, remotely tourist worthy, for hundreds of miles in any direction you choose to go. No foothills or mountains. No ocean waves waving within hundreds of miles. No tourist towns.

However, this month something starts to happen in Texas which I never saw happening in Washington. That being wildflowers appearing and coloring up the landscape. It really is sort of spectacular to see, particularly down in Texas Hill Country.

Just a sec, I shall see if I can find the link to the webpage I made years ago of the Texas Wildflowers.

Found the link to that wildflower webpage, which is what you see via clicking the last two words in the paragraph above...

Linda Lou Shares Oprah's Skagit Valley Tulip Festival Accolade

I saw that which you see above on Facebook yesterday, via the Skagit Valley's award winning Raspberry Jammer and constructor of Graham Cracker Houses, Linda Lou, .

The text under the photo says "The Oprah Magazine just came out with the 10 Best Flower Festivals in the US. We're number 4!"

The "We're number 4" refers to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival.

Reading the article there was no indication this was a list of the top ten in order of best to 10th best. It seemed to more be a list of the top ten flower festivals in the United States.

Nonetheless, no surprise that the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival would be on such a list. That festival draws around a million visitors from around the world, every year.

I believe the traffic management has improved a lot since I least was subjected to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. At least such is what I have been told.

There is another Washington state flower festival on the list. Along with one from Texas.

The entire list of ten...

1.  Portland Rose Festival
2.  National Cherry Blossom Festival
3.  Rochester Lilac Festival
4.  The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival
5.  Tulip Time Festival
6.  North Carolina Azalea Festival
7.  Bluebonnet Festival
8.  The California Poppy Festival
9.  Washington State Apple Blossom Festival
10. Mackinac Island Lilac Festival

The Apple Blossom Festival takes place in Wenatchee. I have never attended that festival. Back in the previous century the Apple Blossom Festival had quite a party reputation.

The text from the Oprah magazine article about the two Washington flower festivals and the one in Texas...

The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival
Held from April 1-30, The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival celebrates the blossoming of millions of tulips in Mount Vernon, Washington. It was designed as a driving tour, so visitors can hop in their ride to bask in the fields of tulips across Skagit Valley at their own leisure.

Bluebonnet Festival
The annual Bluebonnet Festival will take place April 10-12, in Burnet, Texas featuring live music, food, and shopping while visitors admire the area's brightest bluebonnets.

Washington State Apple Blossom Festival
You can check out stunning apple blossoms during April 23-May 3 at the Washington State Apple Blossom Festival, which was founded to celebrate apple trees in the region of Wenatchee, Washington.

_________________

Regarding the article's description of the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. The millions of tulips do not do their blooming in Mount Vernon. The tulips bloom on the Skagit Flats, west of Mount Vernon, altough, I do think that photo above is taken just outside the outskirts of west Mount Vernon. The Skagit Tulip Festival takes place all over the valley, with various of the town's holding various events.

While I have not attended Washington's Apple Blossom Festival, I have experience Texas Bluebonnets, although not at the festival in Burnet.

I have to say, the Texas Bluebonnets are something to see, as is the whole Texas wildflower display when it erupts each spring.

Earlier this century I drove south to Texas Hill Country to hike up Enchanted Rock. And before that hike visited a wildflower farm in Fredericksburg.

And then after hiking up Enchanted Rock drove north through the most incredible displays of  wildflowers I have ever seen.

Unlike the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, the Texas Bluebonnets, and fellow wildflowers are a natural phenomenon. Both are spectacular to eye witness...

Miss Tess Takes Me Home To Skagit Valley Tulips

I saw that which you see here, this morning, on Facebook, via Miss Tessie Sakuma.

Miss Tessie's comment is "We lived right near there. Our whole area was beautiful."

The caption below the tulips...

"Only in Washington".

And...

"An abundance of colorful tulips in Mount Vernon. I can almost smell the sweet air".

When Tessie says she lived right near there, that is sort of accurate. The precise Tessie location was a bit to the northwest from the location in this photo, with most of the Sakuma Farms Empire being located on the Skagit Flats on the other side of the Skagit River from this location.

Mount Vernon was the town I lived in prior to moving to Texas.

That mountain in the background is known as Mount Baker. Mount Baker is a volcano. I was able to see Mount Baker from my kitchen windows at my Mount Vernon location.

I can not see the Mount Wichita pseudo volcano from my current kitchen window. Or any other mountain.

A few days ago I saw an article on CNN about America's scenic wonders that Americans might not know about. I scrolled through the 25 examples of such, some of which I had been to. And then a click popped a familiar sight into view which I had seen multiple times over multiple decades. That being the Skagit Valley Tulips.

Currently I believe the month long Skagit Valley Tulip Festival will soon be underway, or maybe already is underway.

The Tulip Festival draws around a million tourists to the valley, creating a bit of a traffic nightmare at many locations in the valley. The traffic jams have improved over the years with better control of the vehicle flow, bus tours, toads turned into one-way traffic flows, helicopters overhead to monitor and spreading the attractions to various locations on the Skagit Flats, such as Tulip Town.

This morning I am driving to the D/FW Metroplex. On the way there I do not expect to see any tulip fields. I may see some wildflowers. For sure I won't be seeing any mountains or volcanoes...

A Texan Tip Toeing Through The Skagit Valley Tuilps On Facebook

This morning on Facebook a Texas local brought me back to my old home zone with photos from the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival.

On Facebook the past week or two or three I have been seeing photos of the Skagit Valley tulips via Skagit Valley locals.

This is also the colorful time of year in North Texas, with the wildflowers starting to provide some color.

The Texas wildflowers are a natural thing, while the Skagit tulips are basically a farm product, with a lot of flower bulbs shipped all over the world.

I do not remember the last time I saw the Skagit Valley tulips. This century?

I don't know.

I do remember late in the last century my mom and dad talking me into going to Roozengarde for an Easter sunrise service. Roozengarde is the show garden for the Roozengarde flower bulb operation.

A couple of the above images look as if they be from the Roozengarde garden.

I do not think I will be doing any tiptoeing through tulips today. I may go on a walk with Arlington's Indian Ghosts.....

Looking At Skagit Valley Signs Of Spring Waiting For Texas Wildflowers

Yesterday I looked northwest from my current location and lamented the bland scenery my eyes were seeing. The only colors being the blue of the sky and the green of scrub brush.

This morning, on Facebook, I saw the scenic scene you see here, with the text under the photo saying "Signs of Spring in the Skagit Valley this morning!"

The yellow color you see are  flowers called daffodils. Apparently an early arrival of Spring has the Skagit Flats springing alive with color.

Soon the daffodils will be joined by huge fields of tulips in multiple colors, along with other flowers springing from bulbs, like irises, flags, dahlias and likely others I am not remembering right now.

In a month or two the month long Skagit Valley Tulip Festival happens all over the valley, bringing in around a million Tulip Tourists from all over the world. These are real tourists,  not the imaginary type tourists the Fort Worth tourist counters count. You know, counting as a tourist someone visiting Fort Worth from a nearby town, like Arlington.

Yesterday I also found myself lamenting the sad state of hills at my current location where little mounds of earth are called hills, like my neighborhood Woodhaven Hills.

If you look beyond the daffodils in the above photo you will see a couple actual hills. At my current location if such a hill existed I am guessing it would be called a mountain.

I don't remember if I have seen the Skagit Valley Tulips this century. I think the only time I have been back to the Skagit Valley in Spring was in April of 2006 for Spencer Jack's dad's first wedding. I know I only saw the Skagit Flats from a distance, zipping north on I-5, to Burlington for the wedding, then Mount Vernon for the wedding reception, and then back south, well after dark.

When I lived in the Skagit Valley I usually found the Tulip Festival to be an annoyance, particularly when I lived in West Mount Vernon, which was greatly impacted by all the tourists.

Bad traffic jams.

I know the Tulip Traffic problem has been somewhat mitigated in multiple ways, like signage directing people off the freeway prior to the main Mount Vernon/Burlington exits. And getting people to leave their cars in mall parking lots to hop aboard a Tulip Bus to take the Tulip Tour. And spreading the tourists out to new locations, like Tulip Town and events in the various towns in the Skagit Valley.

Last year, or the year before, I recollect reading about some ranch land up near Denton where someone had planted a big field of tulips, hoping people would come to view them and buy bulbs. I remember wondering at the time how a field of tulips would survive in Texas, what with the weather extremes.

In a month, give or take a week or two, Texas will be rivaling the Skagit Valley, color-wise, when the wildflowers put on their annual show. Is there a Wildflower Festival somewhere in Texas? If not, there should be.....

Fresh Western Washington Warm Weather Humble Bragging While Texas Braces For Another Arctic Blast

With yet one more bout of freezing rain scheduled to arrive in North Texas today, I found fresh weather humble bragging in my email this morning, from Spencer Jack's dad, my favorite nephew Jason.

Email subject line: Warm winter bringing out the tulips early at Skagit Valley Tulip Festival | Weather Blog | Seattle News, Weather, Sports, Breaking News | KOMO News

The email had a link to a KOMO TV News story, screencapped above, and below, about Western Washington's balmy winter and the early blooming of flowers which usually wait for the arrival of Spring, flowers such as daffodils, which you see above, currently blooming in the Skagit Valley, and tulips, which you see below, currently blooming in the Skagit Valley.

Below are four paragraphs from the KOMO TV News online article about the tulip's blooming and Western Washington's balmy winter.

Walk around the Puget Sound area and you'll notice trees starting to bloom and perhaps the whirr of a lawn mower or two, even though winter still had a solid 3-4 weeks left in its reign. 

Seattle finished up February as the warmest on record, on the heels of a very warm January (and record-warm December) as well, and the early spring-time weather has in tandem brought out the first signs of spring.

That applies to the tulips and flowers that normally bloom in April for the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. With the warm winter this year, they too are getting a bit of a head start. 

"The warm temperatures have definitely affected the bloom time of the tulips," said Jeannette DeGoede with Tulip Town.

The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is a month long event, with staging locations all over the valley, places like Tulip Town and Roozengarde.

The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival attracts over a million Tulip Tourists to the valley every year. These are real tourists, not imaginary tourists of the six million sort Fort Worth propagandists claim visit downtown Fort Worth annually.

The Tulip Traffic is a jammed up nightmare at times, though I understand efforts have been successful on mitigating that problem since the last time I experienced the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, back in 1998.

So, people in Western Washington are mowing their lawns and seeing colorful blooms sprouting out of the ground, while here in the formerly warm South, a new cold front is blowing in.

With snow again predicted....

A Trio Of Kids Tip Toeing Through The Skagit Valley Tulips While Spencer Jack Has A Root Beer Float At The Fidalgo Drive-In

No, those are not a trio of kids frolicking in a flat field of Texas wildflowers you are looking at on the left.

That trio of kids are frolicking in a field of tulips in what are known as the Skagit Valley Flats, in my old home zone of the Skagit Valley in Washington.

I have never met this trio of kids. I don't know if this trio of kids know they have an uncle who lives in a place called Texas.

I found this tulip picture this morning on the blog on which this trio of kid's caretaker poodles, Blue and Max, chronicle the ongoing adventures of Theo, David and Ruby, in a blog post titled Tip Toeing Through The Tulips, or something like that.

If you click the Tip Toeing Through The Tulips link you will see many more photos of the trio of kids frolicking in the flowers.

The Skagit Tulip Festival is at the half way point, running the entire month of April, with events all over the valley, in addition to the 100s of acres of blooming flowers.

Over a million visitors come to the Skagit Valley each year for the Tulip Festival. This creates traffic mayhem.

A blurb from the Skagit Tulip Festival website...

The sun is shining and the tulips are blooming and people are coming from all around the world to see the flowers. 

Back in the early 1980s I lived in West Mount Vernon, around the time of the first Tulip Festival. Worst traffic mess I've ever lived through. The traffic mess has greatly improved over the years, turning some roads temporarily one-way, signs pointing to alternative routes, tour buses to get visitors out of their cars, helicopters overhead to monitor the traffic flow and events all over the valley to take some of the traffic away from the tulips.

If you're going to this year's Skagit Tulip Festival be sure to go to Anacortes to Spencer Jack's dad's Fidalgo Drive-In and have yourself basket of Pubhouse Battered Cod, Puget Sound Clam Chowder, a Dungeness Crab Sandwich, a Tillamook Bacon Cheddar Burger and a Root Beer Float made by Spencer Jack.

And then return to the Skagit Flats for some more tip toeing through the tulips....

Blue & Max Take David, Theo & Ruby For A Muddy Romp In A Tulip-less Skagit Valley Field

Yesterday morning Blue & Max told me they were taking my nephews, David & Theo and niece, Ruby, to the Skagit Valley to tiptoe through the tulips.

I asked Blue & Max to please take me a picture of the trio tiptoeing through the tulips, but the above is all I got. Nary a tulip in view.

For those unfamiliar with such things, those mounds in the background are known as foothills, not mountains. These are foothills of the Cascade Mountain Range. Over time the Skagit River carved a valley through the Cascade Mountains, eventually leaving the mountains to create an enormous alluvial plain, rendered extremely fertile due to the eons of being flooded, prior to mostly being tamed by the intervention of man.

The alluvial flood plain part of the Skagit Valley is known, locally, as the Skagit Flats. Looking at the photo you likely can guess why this is called The Flats.

The Skagit Flats is where most of the Skagit agriculture takes place. I do know of a big Cascadian Farms strawberry field up the valley, well out of The Flats zone.

Actually I don't know if the big Cascadian Farms strawberry field still exists, upriver. It has been a lot of years, as in 14, since I have driven past that strawberry field on my way over the North Cascades to Eastern Washington.

Over 90 different crops are grown in the Skagit Valley. In addition to the aforementioned strawberries, you will also find fields of corn, peas, raspberries, blueberries,  cucumber, potatoes, broccoli, apples and tulip, daffodil and iris bulbs.

The Skagit Valley produces more flower bulbs than any other county in America.

All that flower bulb production makes the Skagit Flats very colorful this Skagit Tulip Festival time of the year.  So, I really don't know why Blue & Max could only find a field of mud, with no tulips, for the kids to play in.

A Plethora Of Village Creek Wildflowers Thinking About Skagit Valley Tulips

Arlington's Village Creek Natural Historical Area's Wildflower Area today was blooming a lot more wildflowers than what it was blooming just two days ago.

And so it seems, wildflower season has finally arrived in North Texas.

Yesterday, whilst walking in my neighborhood I came upon a flower growing wild that I thought was a wildflower, but I was later informed this particular flower is known as a very common Iris.

I don't know why a very common Iris can not also be a wildflower.

Currently my old home location, that being the Skagit Valley in the State of Washington, is in the midst of the annual Skagit Tulip Festival, running from April 1 through April 30.

Over a million visitors come to the Skagit Valley each year to look at the tulips and other flowers blooming on the valley floor.

Until 1985 I lived in West Mount Vernon, on the west side of the Skagit River. This meant every weekend during the Tulip Festival I had myself a really fine time dealing with the worst traffic jams I've ever experienced anywhere.

The traffic problems have improved over the years, with mass transit hauling some of the visitors in buses. And better control of the traffic flow.

Looking at the Skagit Tulip Festival website I see a mission statement...

The Mission of the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is to coordinate and promote a countywide Spring celebration of the tulip bloom, in commemoration of the valley’s annual tulip harvest, and to be an advocate for Skagit Valley agriculture.

Reading the above had me wondering if Tarrant County has a countywide celebration advocating anything. Skagit County has countywide public transit. Tarrant County does not have countywide public transit.

Does Tarrant County have countywide anything? I'm drawing a blank.

Well, there is the Tarrant Regional Water District, that covers more than Tarrant County,  but I don't know of the Tarrant Regional Water District celebrating advocating anything other than conserving water, except for the water the Tarrant Regional Water District sells to gas drillers, who mix the water with chemicals and shoot it underground, turning it into water the Tarrant Regional Water District does not worry about conserving....

The Next To Last Monday Of April With Theo Tiptoeing Through The Skagit Valley Tulips

It appears, judging from the view from my secondary viewing portal on the outer world, that the next to last Monday of April has dawned with yet one more clear, blue sky morning in Texas.

Currently heated to 18 degrees above freezing, heading to a high of 74, today, if the temperature predictors are correct with their predicting.

Yesterday I mentioned that I bailed on the Hurst In-N-Out due to their being way too many people trying to get a burger.

My eldest nephew, Spencer Jack's dad, then commented to that blogging about In-N-Out, saying that his burger joint, the Fidalgo Drive-In, in Anacortes, was similarly flooded with burger maniacs, due to extremely nice weather and extremely HUGE crowds of tourists in the Skagit Valley due to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival.

Theo Tiptoeing Through The Skagit Valley Tulips

Yesterday I saw via the Blue and Max blog that my nephews and niece, David, Theo and Ruby had visited the Tulip Festival this past weekend. I don't know if they went to the Fidalgo Drive-In.

Blue and Max took some cute cute pictures of the kids in the tulips, one of which you see here. That is Theo checking out what a tulip smells like.

In the background those big mounds in the distance are something you don't see in Texas. They are called foothills. As in foothills of the Cascade Mountains. The white patches you see high up on the foothills are called snow.

Enough about tulips. I see the temperature has dropped another degree, to 49, since I woke up my temperature monitoring device. I must go swimming before it gets any colder.

The Return Of Blue Sky And Near Freezing Temperatures With No Texas Tulips

Looking through the bars of my patio prison cell you can see that the morning of the third day of May has dawned cleared of clouds, allowing the return of a bright blue sky.

With a temperature only 8 degrees above freezing, heading to a supposed high of 70.

It will take a few days to dry out my favorite hiking zone after yesterday's deluge.

I think the high yesterday was only 51. The 24 hour average does not quite meet my 50 degree requirement upon which I base if swimming is doable. But, I think I'll give it a try.

We've been in a bit of a drought in these parched parts, which is likely, I think, the main reason this spring's Texas wildflowers have been a bit muted.

Speaking of flowers. The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival just wrapped up. Last weekend Carlotta Camano headed north to the Skagit Valley to tour the tulip fields.

I've not done this in well over 10 years.

Around a million visitors come to the valley during the Tulip Festival. It is a big sprawled out deal. Over the years methods have been found to manage the massive traffic flow.

I think I may have seen a tulip in the ground in Texas, but I'm drawing a blank as to when or where.

What I do know, for sure, is looking at Carlotta Camano's pictures of the Skagit tulips, this morning, made me a bit homesick.

Waiting For Texas Wildflowers While Taking A Virtual Trip To The Skagit Valley Tulips

The wildflowers have been slow to bloom this Spring in Texas. While the wildflowers are blooming, Texas is at its most colorful. And then the wildflowers fade away and basic drab returns.

It is harder to cultivate flowers in this climate than my former Western Washington climate. Which, I suppose is why you don't see big flower displays and giant hanging baskets hanging from posts along downtown streets like you do in Washington.

Right now, in my old home zone, the Skagit Valley, the 27th Annual Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is underway. It runs from April 1 -30. Around a million tourists will descend upon the Valley during the festival. This past weekend the throngs caused bad traffic jams, backing up on to Interstate 5, in Mount Vernon.

Helicopters monitor the Tulip Traffic flow. You can take bus alternatives to get out to the fields. The Tulip Festival does a pretty good job of keeping the traffic flowing, but at times the system gets overwhelmed.

The Skagit Valley is one of the most fertile, productive agricultural areas in the world. All sorts of fruits and vegetables grow there. In recent times tea fields have arrived. I believe this is the only location in America that grows tea.

The Tulip Fields were brought to mind because last weekend Perry Mason's little sister, Lori, drove her dad up to the Valley to take in all the color. This caused Miss Tess, former Valley Girl, currently in Northern California, to ask Lori if she'd taken any pictures. Like me, it'd been a few years since Miss Tess had seen the Tulips.

Ironically, I was in the Skagit Valley, April of 2008, but we did not drive out into the part of the flats were the Tulips bloom. Did not even cross my mind. However, I did go to the cool new Farmer's Market, that is part of Miss Tess's family's agricultural operation. That is where I learned tea is now grown in the Valley, with the Sakuma Brothers venturing over to Japan to see how to go about cultivating tea leaves.

After reading Tess lamenting Lori's lack of photo documentation, I took a virtual trip to the Skagit Valley and took some pictures. I then put them on my Washington Blog. If you have Google Earth, on your computer, you can take yourself on a virtual trip to the Skagit Valley and click on a lot of Tulip pictures.

While you do that I'm having myself another cup of Sakuma Brothers Skagit Valley Tea.

I'm homesick.

Snow In Fort Worth Forecast For First Day Of Spring While Daffodils Bloom & Nerd Gang Battles In Veterans Park

Today is the last day of Winter, despite what you may have read in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Tomorrow, Sunday, is the first day of Spring. And, as you can see, snow is in our forecast, here in Fort Worth, for the first day of Spring.

I got gas today. My one longtime reader may remember that when I get gas I call my mom in Phoenix. So, I called and told my mom about our latest incoming blizzard. Mom thinks it is time I move back to a mild climate, as in, return to the Northwest.

I called my mom from Veterans Park, in Arlington.

Veterans Park reminded me of the Northwest today. I'm not referencing the cold wind and gray sky.

It was all the daffodils that reminded me of where I lived in the Northwest, that being in the Skagit Valley, which is one of the world's top flower bulb producing areas.

In March and April, sometimes earlier, the Skagit Valley turns into a blaze of color, with fields of tulips, daffodils, flags, irises and I forget what else, coloring up the place.

The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival lasts for a month while the bulbs are blooming, drawing in an incredible number of flower gawking tourists. I believe this is being all messed up, up there, this year, due to the record breaking warm Winter.

Also at Veterans Park, today, I saw a Gang of Nerds enjoying a gang fight with what looked like baseball bats. The Gang of Nerds was battling when I arrived and still battling when I left, about 45 minutes later. The high wind had the Wind Chill Factor having it feel somewhere in the 19-20 zone.

Maybe Nerds are impervious to cold. I know I am. I'll have to ask Gar the Texan if he is impervious to cold.

Speaking of cold, I went in the pool this morning. It'd gotten into the 70s yesterday, so the pool was significantly warmer than the air. I did two laps.

When I left Veterans Park I went to that new ALDI German grocery store again. The aforementioned Gar the Texan asked if you had to stick a quarter in a slot to get a grocery cart. I told Gar that I just started pushing a cart, with no quarter impedence.

Well, I don't know how I managed to get that cart my first time at ALDI, but this time a quarter had to be entered into a slot in order to free a cart. Somehow this keeps the carts all lined up and nice and orderly. It's the most German type thing I've noticed in this store. If you don't have a quarter, and really, how many people walk around with a lot of change in their pockets, an ALDI guy while free a cart for you.

Friday's Fry's Day Sony Vaio Laptop

Who wants to go laptop shopping at Fry's Electronics with me today?

Today Fry's has the world's lightest laptop on sale, that being a Sony Vaio P Series that only weighs 1.4 pounds. Its battery lasts up to 4 hours. 2GB of Ram. With a built in camera and GPS navigation system, which I can not imagine using because I never get lost. Maybe it could be used on a plane to make sure the pilot is heading in the right direction.

I think I overdid the running around Tandy Hills yesterday. Sometime after 8 last night I started to watch yesterday's DVRed latest episode of Survivor, but I passed out on the couch before we got to the first challenge. This never happens to me, well, hasn't happened to me in a long long time. Of recent times my problem has been insomnia, not passing out in front of the TV.

Apparently I go from one extreme to another.

Like I can go from saying I'm not returning to the Northwest for another 10 years, after last summer's miserable month of, well, misery, to seeing a picture of tulips on a laptop screen and thinking it'd be fun to be in the Northwest this spring to see the Skagit Valley tulips for the first time in a decade.

This year's Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is a month long, as in the entire month of April. When I lived in the Skagit Valley I don't recollect the Tulip Festival lasting an entire month. If I remember right, last year's late Spring made everything bloom late, everything from tulips to blackberries, the blackberries being something I'd looked forward to last summer, but who's late ripening disappointed me, just like pretty much everything else had.

Maybe the Tulip Festival is being stretched longer to make sure there are some blooming flowers when the hordes, and I do mean hordes, of tourists arrive.

The same month as the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, the Tandy Hills Prairie Fest happens. The Prairie Fest will get about 3000 visitors. The Tulip Festival will get somewhere around a million visitors. This creates epic traffic jams on country roads, requiring a lot of traffic cop direction and surveillance by helicopters. It's a spectacle.

Tandy Hills Park and the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

I had not talked to my ex-wife for almost 2 years, so I called her yesterday while I was lounging by the pool (I mention lounging by the pool to annoy my 2 Northwest readers who are shivering today).

And to further annoy my 2 Northwest readers, today I went hiking at Tandy Hills Park and it was so HOT I had to hike shirtless and even then was too HOT. And now I'm slightly sunburned.

The wildflowers are sprouting out all over, including Tandy Hills Park. The photo I took of that pink wildflower you see above does not quite capture the almost neon-like flashiness of the color.

I'm pretty sure the purple flowers you see on the right are not wildflowers, they look like something that came from a bulb, like flowers you see in my former locale, that being the Skagit Valley of Washington.

Speaking of flowers and the Skagit Valley, this year is the 25th Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. Tulips, Flags, Daffodils, Irises and I forget what other type flowers are grown commericially in the Skagit Valley with the resulting bulbs sent all over the world. The Tulip Festival lasts several weeks with events happening all over the valley. Depending on the weather around a million visitors show up causing awful traffic jams. To help spread the pain things like Tulip Town were built. Buses are brought in to provide a sort of mass transit system to try and cut down on the number of cars. If there was a place that you might call the Heart of the Tulip Festival that would likely be Roozengaarde with their huge show garden.

The wildflowers in Texas look like a natural version of the Skagit Valley's acres of planted color. A few Easters ago I went down to the Fredericksburg zone to hike Enchanted Rock. Just outside of Fredericksburg there is a wildflower seed producing place with planted fields. It's called Wildseed Farms and it was very similar to Roozengaarde, except instead of Dutch stuff like Windmills, Wildseed has Cowboys cooking BBQ which made Wildseed Farms smell way better than Roozengaarde.