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...

Texas Burn With Sister Jackie In Wichita Bluff Nature Area

The day before America's presidential embarrassment got indicted, I mean, impeached, Sister Jackie, from Arizona, went on a walk and talk with me on the Circle Trail in the Wichita Bluff Nature Area.

After multiple minutes of walking I sat myself down on one of the Wichita Falls patented swinging benches which was swinging near the parking lot on which I had parked, at the west end of the Wichita Bluff Nature Area.

A few minutes after sitting and swinging, and continuing to talk to Sister Jackie, vehicles began arriving at the parking lot.

This seemed unusual, as this parking lot does not attract a lot of action around noon on a Tuesday.

Soon the people getting out of their cars began sitting up a folding table. And then began putting stuff on that table.

From where I was watching the stuff on the table looked like maybe a big container from which coffee or hot chocolate might be poured. I could not make out the nature of some of the other stuff being arranged on the table.

And then a big blue bus arrived. I told Sister Jackie what I was seeing and verbalized wondering what was going on. I began to terminate the talk with Sister Jackie as I walked past the bus and table. I asked one of the ladies monitoring that table what was going on.

She told me they were taking the wives of Sheppard Air Force airman on a tour of Wichita Falls attractions.

To which I replied, well, this is a good one. Meaning good attraction.

Sister Jackie then asked, before I ended the call, if I was offered hot coffee or chocolate. I replied in the negative.

As soon as I ended the Sister Jackie call that lady who told me what was going on gave me a come hither wave. And so I returned to the mysterious table, where she asked me if I would like one of these, handing to me that which you see photo documented above.

A container of something called Kenny's All Purpose Seasonings Texas Burn which, according to the information on the container, will "Add Spice & Excitement to Every Meal!"

I have been in need of adding some spice and excitement to my every meal, but I have yet to do so with Kenny's Texas Burn.

I always have myself a mighty fine time communing with nature in the Wichita Bluff Nature Area. I think, what with the outer world being colored blue, not too windy, not too cold, a hike or bike on that section of the Circle Trail might be just what the doctor would recommend, if consulted, to lift me out of my current lethargic doldrums deeply in need of some spice and excitement...

David, Theo & Ruby's Tacoma Impeachment Rally With Trump Baby

Theo & Ruby Holding On To Baby Trump

Yesterday whilst blogging about Theo & Ruby's Happy Birthday Impeachment Present mention was made of the hope that possibly photo documentation might arrive documenting Theo, Ruby and David at the Tacoma Trump Impeachment Rally.

That photo documentation arrived after 9 pm last night, which would have been 6 pm on the west coast, I think.

I always seem to mess up the time difference. Arizona not having Daylight Savings Time, south of the Grand Canyon, only exacerbates my time zone confusion. Now that we are all on Standard Time I think Arizona is two hours behind. And the west coast three hours behind.

I digress. I am tired and my mind is rambling.

I did not hear of any Trump Impeachment Rally taking place in Wichita Falls. I figured there would be one, what with the big march the day this nightmare began with Trump's inauguration.

In that first Impeachment Rally photo, above, it appears that Theo, Ruby and David are outside one of the museum buildings in Tacoma's downtown, near the Bridge of Glass.

And I see Tacoma has acquired one of those popular inflatable Baby Trumps in Diapers balloons, which Theo and Ruby appear to be holding on to.

Okay, I just asked David, Theo and Ruby's mama if my location guess was correct. And the answer quickly came back that I was sort of correct.

The Tacoma Trump Impeachment Rally did take place downtown near the museums and the Bridge of Glass. The Impeachment Rally took place at  Union Station, the old train station which has been re-purposed as a Federal Courthouse.

This location is on Pacfic Street, which is one of the main ways into downtown Tacoma. Light rail runs past the museums and galleries, connecting downtown to the intermodal transit center by the Tacoma Dome.

Whilst the Impeachment Rally was happening buses, cars and light rail trains passed, honking and with those on board waving support. 

Yes, I can now sort of remember this being Union Station. I think the last time I was at this location we went to the UW bookstore across the street, where Theo and Ruby got some sort of confection at Starbucks, then walked past Union Station to the Bridge of Glass to cross over the highway to the Thea Foss Waterway.

I don't think that is David, Theo and Ruby's sign behind them shouting "IMPEACHMENT, 25th AMENDMENT, MILITARY COUP... I REALLY DON'T CARE DO U? JUST GET RID of HIM!"

It may not be their sign, but I think I can safely say the sign reflects their sentiments, along with millions up millions of other actual patriotic Americans...

Enjoying Joining Saturday Night Wichita Falls Fantasy Of Lights Crowd

Yesterday whilst talking about Linda Lou's Graham Cracker House I made mention of the fact that last night I was scheduled to guide a tour group through the Wichita Falls Christmas zone, collectively known as the Fantasy of Lights, including the Burns MSU Fantasy of Lights, and the Fantasy of Lights one finds in the neighborhood adjacent to the Burns MSU Fantasy of Lights.

I took a few photos, none of which do any sort of justice to how incredibly fantastic this light fantasy actually is.

My tour assistant took video of the drive by of the actual Fantasy of Lights, which does give one a good idea of how spectacular this Holiday extravaganza is, and what a HUGE crowd of light fantasy viewers show up for the show. You can view that video, eventually, below.

Above we are driving by one of the four long Polar Express trams carrying light seekers from Fantasy of Lights central, on the MSU campus, riding through the area I refer to as the Beverly Hills of Wichita Falls.

The Polar Express trams were running at full capacity. All four of them. The above photo shows only the last two cars of one of the long trams. I would estimate there were at least 200 people aboard. When my tour group passed the area where one gets a ticket to ride the Polar Express we saw a line of at least another couple hundred waiting their turn.

Last night I also saw a large group of bikers, lit up, and rolling through the light fantasy. That looked fun. I also saw one of the horse drawn carriages clip clopping along soon after I saw the throng of bikers.

Below are the best I came up with, photo-wise of the lights in the Beverly Hills of Wichita Falls.

The streets of the Beverly Hills of Wichita Falls are lined with big trees. And the streets have sidewalks. Which last night hosted a lot of walkers. The tree trunks are wired with light, but that is not what we are looking at above. Above is one home's light fantasy.

The above is showing only a small part of this HUGE installation of lights and animations. This display is in front of one of the mansions on Hamilton Boulevard, across the boulevard from Hamilton Park. The mansion next to this one had the most impressive display of light animation seen last night.

My favorite of the Beverly Hills of Wichita Falls mansions is the one with the bright trees you see above. I wondered what this house would do for lighting. And last night I had my answer. The ultra modern style house was dark, surrounded by trees covered with so much lighting it sort of looked like giant illuminated caterpillar infestation tents.

Below is the aforementioned video drive by of the MSU Fantasy of Lights, followed by more commentary.



Prior to experiencing what Wichita Falls does Holiday Season lighting-wise, the most impressive such thing my eyes had ever witnessed was Interlochen in Arlington. Drivers drive from all over the D/FW Metroplex to join the slow traffic jam that drives through Interlochen.

I do not know why Arlington and Interlochen have not thought of the Wichita Falls tram type solution to that annual traffic jam mess which make the Interlochen experience a bit unpleasant.

The Wichita Falls Holiday Season lighting operation is a lot more coordinated effort than the Arlington Interlochen effort. Just the way all the trees along the streets are all lit up with matching lighting is one example.

It is not Interlochen's fault that the roads in that neighborhood sort of constrict easy traffic flow, with only two ways in and out.

One of the many positive attributes of the HUGE Wichita Falls lit up area is the multiple streets with multiple in and out points, thus making for zero traffic flow woes. That and those four long trams helps. Plus Wichita Falls having that sprawling Fantasy of Lights installation at the heart of it all, with lots of easy parking, so people can choose to get out and walk among the lights, or take the stay in your vehicle Santa drive-by option.

Bottom line, good job Wichita Falls. This town does so many things quite excellently. Which is sort of significant, because I ain't all that easy to impress...

MSU Fantasy Of Lights Reminding Linda Lou's Skagit Valley Graham Cracker House

Today, on this second Saturday of the final December of the second decade of the current century I got some Vitamin D by rolling my bike north on the Circle Trail, under a bright blue pre-winter sky, eventually making my way to MSU to roll around the mid-day Fantasy of Lights.

I am scheduled later today to lead a tour group past the best of the Wichita Falls Christmas lights. That happens after dark.

Rolling the trail through the Fantasy of Lights today I came upon a fantasy which brought the Skagit Valley's Linda Lou to mind.

With that fantasy being the Gingerbread House you see above, with Humpty Dumpty way in the background.

The reason this Fantasy of Lights MSU Gingerbread House reminded me of Linda Lou was due to Linda Lou being in the online news from the Skagit Valley with an account of Linda Lou's creative re-imagining of a classic Gingerbread House, using a different building block to create a Graham Cracker House.

The above is the photo documentation of Linda Lou's Graham Cracker House which illustrated the news about Linda Lou's Christmas construction. I would give credit to the photographer who photographed Linda Lou's Graham Cracker House, but that information is not known by me.

Please also not the creatively imaginative mouse on the left and the marshmallow snowman on the right.

I do not know if Linda Lou's Graham Cracker Houses are available for purchase at the Linda Lou Skagit Valley Jam Factory. I suspect by special order, only, if they are available...

Who Should Pay For Forth Worth Boondoggle's Incompetence Cost?

This blogging falls into the category of seeing something in an online west coast news source, usually the Seattle Times, about something I would not expect to see in a Texas news source, usually the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, about a similar type subject, again, usually in Fort Worth.

Way back in 2014 Fort Worth tried to start building three simple little bridges to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

Shortly before that bridge building tried to begin, in Seattle, what was then the world's largest drill, began tunneling under downtown Seattle.

That drilling soon ran into a snag in the form of a steel pipe, which ended up delaying the tunnel drilling for around two years.

That tunnel has now long been completed and open to traffic. And now, apparently, the tunneling contractor has been ordered to pay Washington state $57 million for being at fault for the long tunneling stall.

Meanwhile, in Fort Worth, after more than five years those three simple little bridges are no where near being open to traffic, long stalled for who knows what variety of reasons. Not known due to the fact the facts of the bridge building stall not being transparently known to the Fort Worth public, due to the fact that Fort Worth lacks an actual responsible newspaper doing actual responsible investigatory journalism.

In the Seattle Times article, about this court order, mention was made of the fact that the state spent an amount similar to $57 million to continue managing the tunnel project whilst it was stalled. You know, continuing to need to pay all those contracted to be part of the project.

I have long wondered, and asked, how many millions of Fort Worth's stalled bridge building dollars have been spent paying the staff of the Trinity River Vision Authority all these years since the project should have been long ago completed, had this project been underway in an area of modern America free of corruption and nepotism.

Fort Worth Congresswoman, Kay Granger's son, J.D., has been paid over $200K a year, plus perks and benefits, for years and years; many years more than what such a relatively simple project should have taken to accomplish, but which is now not projected to be completed until some point way into the next decade.

This for a project originally touted as being a vitally needed flood control project.

Vitally needed in an area of Fort Worth which the Trinity River has not flooded for well over a half century, due to levees already in place, already paid for.

How come no one has been sued over what has become America's Dumbest Boondoggle? Originally known as the Trinity River Vision, before it morphed into the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.

Before simply being almost universally referred as just The Boondoggle?

How is it that Kay Granger's son is still sucking up taxpayer money for a job which my now pretty much any sane person can see has been totally botched?

And now a new employee has been added, paid even more than J.D. Granger, to try and fix the mess.

It is perplexing how one town in America can manage to dig a massive tunnel under its downtown, while another town in America can't seem to manage to build three simple little bridges.

And yet some wonder why we refer to some areas of America as modern America, you know, where city parks have no outhouses, streets have sidewalks, public works projects work for the public, you know that type modern concept...

Heavenly Creator Wichita Bluff Holiday Decoration

With the outer world not being even remotely close to being frightful, instead being mighty close to being delightful I stuck a ham in the oven, loaded my bike onto the truck's bed and rolled my motorized motion device to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area to have some endorphin inducing aerobic stimulation.

My current attempt to get myself in shape for Moab mountain biking and Washington mountain climbing seems to be progressing slowly to being at a level of being able to maintain high energy motion for an extended period of time.

Today found new additions to the Circle Trail section of the Wichita Bluff Nature Area in the form of decorations hung from trees and bushes. Such as what you see above, hanging above the latest iteration of the Wichita Bluff Hoodoo installation.

When I first saw the Hoodoo decoration I figured it was a one time thing. I was soon disabused of that notion as I rolled along seeing various iterations of holiday type decorations decorating the trail.

I assumed these are environmentally friendly bio-degradable art objects. The above white rose looks to have been made from paper on which some words had been typed. Eventually I came to a white snowflake on which I could make out some of the words.

But before I got to that snowflake I found what looked like a poinsettia bloom.

This large poinsettia bloom is attached to an evergreen tree of some sort. You can see the Circle Trail in the background.

And here we have that aforementioned white snowflake on which some words can be read. Words like "Heavenly Creator".  That's the only one I can remember. I already deleted the large version of this photo so no further word retrieval, other than my feeble memory, is available.

So, that was nice seeing the Wichita Bluffs getting into the holiday spirit today...

Merry Christmas & Happy New Decade From Tootsie Tonasket

This morning in my mailbox I found a Christmas card from one of my favorite Eastern Wsshingtonians.

Aunt Alice.

Also known as Tootsie Tonasket.

I first came to know Tootsie Tonasket back near the start of the current century when Tootsie emailed me a question after she saw my webpage about the Branch-Davidians and Mount Carmel.

Somehow Tootsie mis-understood and thought I was a survivor of that massacre and so she had some rather interesting questions to ask the answers to which I did not have.

Thus begun what is now almost two decades of emails, text messages, letters and phone calls.

I have seen Aunt Alice through getting on MySpace, and then Facebook, finding a long lost sister, getting rid of Uncle Albert, SWAT raids due suspected purloined deer, the shock of Cousin Wade being murdered by an Omak policeman.

And much much more.

Aunt Alice has now rid herself of the house she shared with Uncle Albert, and has now moved atop a mountain near Tonasket, where she is currently in the process of acquiring a she shed and possibly a snow plow due to already having way too much of the white stuff piling up.

I thought Aunt Alice would make a good roommate for mom, but that arrangement never came to fruition.

Getting this card and letter today from Aunt Alice has reminded me that I have some letter writing to do. Along with some happy birthday wishing.

Merry Christmas, Aunt Alice.

And I'm sure the new decade is gonna be your best ever...

Pre Winter Communing On Wichita Bluff Nature Area

Already we are at day 11 of the 2019 version of December.

Only ten more days, give or take a day, til winter arrives.

Today I felt the need to commune with nature, and so I used my mechanized motor device to take me to the Wichita Bluff Nature Area where I soon found myself sitting on my favorite bench doing that communing with nature thing, whilst gazing north across the prairie bluff listening to the roar of jets doing their training thing.

Today before getting benched I came upon a trio of French mademoiselles speaking loudly in their nature tongue. One frequently comes upon foreigners whilst hiking the bluffs.

Or in ALDI.

Usually the foreigners are in this land which is foreign to them due an association with Sheppard Air Force Base, which is a NATO training facility.

I always wonder if Wichita Falls is these foreigners only exposure to America.

Some of that which one sees in Wichita Falls, and other towns I have seen in Texas, I never saw the likes of til I arrived in the South.

I was just remarking on this fact today whilst driving from the Bluffs to ALDI, driving north on Lawrence road, asking the co-pilot if he had any memory of ever seeing anything like this in any other west coast town.

For some reason when a building goes defunct in Texas, like a motel, or any business, the structure is allowed to deteriorate into being a rundown eyesore. I have never understood why this is considered okay in Texas.

When asking about this I get told nonsense about property rights. They are big on property rights, apparently, except when it comes to abusing eminent domain to take someone's property. A phenomenon which I also never witnessed whilst observing west coast towns.

Perplexing...

Mystery Of Missing Tacoma Amazon Package Solved

Yesterday I made mention of the fact of an Amazon package that had not arrived which the sender told me was supposed to have been already delivered multi days prior.

As in last Wednesday.

I was told this was a large package, thus it likely would not have gone airborne in a strong wind if Amazon had left the package on my porch.

Yesterday I also mentioned another package, one that had arrived, but which, though the address was correct, the recipient does not reside at my address.

So, this morning I ventured to the mailroom where I passed off the erroneous package to someone else to handle. I then made mention of the fact of the missing Amazon package. I was then informed that several packages were in the mailroom, awaiting being united with their rightful recipient.

And so the mystery of the missing Amazon package was solved.

I soon secured a hand-truck so as to easily roll the HUGE package back to my abode. Eventually I was able to navigate up a series of stairs and into my entry zone where I posed the HUGE box for photo documentation purposes.

Which is what you see above.

I then texted the sender of the HUGE box to ask if this was something I should open now, or was it intended that I wait for the regular Christmas package opening time frame.

I was quickly advised that I should open the box now. I proceeded to do so, to soon find something inside the box which I suspect will be greatly improving the days to follow in a mighty fine way.

Thanks, Tacoma Trio & Parental Units. I needed that...