The Tulip Festival, LaConner, Anacortes and some Geocaching

Mom was interested in going back up to the Skagit County area to see the tulip festival the area hosts every spring.  She came up a few years ago with some co-workers and wanted to go again.  I have not been to the tulip festival and neither has grandma or Angela.  We planned a weekend to go and hoped that the weather would hold up.  Mom figured out the hotel arrangements and other places of interest to go and visit while on Whidbey Island. 

I needed to get the two state park caches we either skipped because the stamp was missing or we ran out of daylight to go and get.  We were here July 2013 grabbing as many as we could so we could get our silver coin for finishing 50 of the 103 state parks.  Our 50th was at Camp Casey just as the sun was setting.  I've always wanted to come back and get the last two on the island and I finally got the chance since we were going to be in the area again.

Grandma cleaned out her van and washed it.  I thought we would have more room if we took the van vs. the Escape for four people.  The night before we found out Angela wasn't going to go with us because she was sick.  I helped grandma check the air pressure in the tires and added some more to the front just because they were a little low.

I packed up all my stuff the night before mostly because I knew we would not have any time in the morning to get it all done and on the road at a decent time.  When I got up in the morning I was right.  Mom wanted me to change all the duck pools and clean the cat box all while trying to get ready to go.  Ugh.  Grandma got here at 7:30 and started helping us put stuff in the van.  I got dressed as fast as I could and checked my room one more time for stuff I possibly missed then I helped her with the rest of the stuff.

I drove so I assembled the Nuvi so we could see where we were going.  We stopped in Yelm to get gas and mom bought the first round of gas.  Since we were at that end of town, I decided to head towards Spanaway, got onto 512, 167 and then the 405...Doug said that route would be better because Comicon was going on in Seattle and the freeway might be congested.  We merged onto I-5 north of Seattle and continued on until Arlington, where we had to stop and use the restroom.  I found a McDonald's and we tried to limit our time there mostly because there was a weird situation when we walked in.

There was a lady and a man sitting at the table and the manager told them that they couldn't stay there anymore without buying something.  The guy pointed to his cup of hot water and the manager said that didn't count since it was free and asked them to leave again.  The lady came into the restroom and started talking to herself but out loud so we could hear her.  Basically they were squatters looking for a handout.  We ignored her, finished up and left as quick as we could to get back onto I-5.

Mom wanted to see the snow birds that frequent an area south of Mount Vernon called Fir Island so we took that exit hoping we could see these giant white birds.  They weren't there and mom was sad.  It was probably too late in the season to see them.  We headed to the first field of tulips and daffodils. 

Our first stop was the Roosengaard Fields.  I have never seen this many flowers in one area in my whole life.  It was so many colors and so vibrant!  There were a lot of people, cars and little kids everywhere!  We spent less than an hour here looking at the flowers and the stupid people who can't read the signs.  Do not pick the flowers and do not walk in the rows of flowers.  It isn't hard.

We got back into the van and attempted to find a place called Tulip Town.  We missed the road and had to turn around and go the long way there.  It wasn't hard to find because they had giant kites floating in the wind.  We pulled into the driveway along with dozens of other people.  Ugh, we had to pay $6 a person to get into this farm.  Lame!  Oh well.  The flowers better be amazing! 

We parked and wandered to the entrance.  We took a few pictures and then had to wait for grandma to use the restroom.  We walked around the tulip garden they showcased and again, they had signs to let the public know not to touch the flowers or go in the rows.  Again, people didn't listen and the people in the vests had to remind people over and over again.  We were definitely the minorities at the gardens this weekend.

We made the loop around and then decided to go into the barn area to see what was inside.  Expensive food, art, flowers and bulbs were being sold, along with kids that could get their faces painted for $12!  Yes, $12!  Sooo expensive.  I bought a few postcards and a bouquet of tulips just to say I got some; they were red.  We were there for a good hour and a half and decided to move onto our next adventure.

Mom wanted to go to LaConner to walk around and see the shops.  The last time I remember being here was in 1998 when we came up to Mount Vernon for a softball tournament.  We drove over here with Evan, Monica, Lacey and Tabitha.  I can't believe it's been almost 20 years.  When we got to town, Ben called me and wanted to talk about our trip so far.  He had spent the morning with my dad at the gun range shooting shotguns.  They went to the Farm Boy and had lunch and Ben asked my dad for permission to ask me to marry him.  I guess dad kinda made it awkward but he eventually said yes in his own weird way.

It was really hard to find a parking spot and we eventually drove to the south side of town in a overflow lot.  We got out and a nice couple gave us their parking pass because they were done with it and didn't want to waste it.  We thanked them for their kindness.  We encountered another situation like this a few years ago at Voodoo Doughnuts, some kind person paid it forward by giving us their parking pass.  We grabbed the stuff we would need and made our way to the first cache I had to get in LaConner.  I am still slowly working on the Washington State Towns and Cities Challenge (GC2RYC7).

It was over by the Rainbow Bridge.  I tried the find one that had a bunch of favorites.  Mom and grandma took pictures of the bridge while I went and found the cache really quickly.  I didn't realize it was at the top of this hill in Pioneer Park.  I hustled up the trail and found the stump Over the Rainbow (GC1T8XF) was hidden in.  I found a place to take a picture.

We made our way into town and stopped to get a picture of the bridge now that we weren't that close to it and you could actually see it.

We walked around the little town and realized none of us have had lunch.  We couldn't decide on anything mostly because every place was packed, we decided to get some milkshakes to keep us over until dinner time.  Probably won't do that again.  We ended up having a minor mishap that was taken care of quickly.  Mom and grandma looked at a couple of shops while I ran and grabbed one more cache in LaConner, Quail Trail (GC4GMTF).  It hadn't been found the last couple times so I was hoping I didn't walk all the way over here for nothing.  I checked a few obvious places and then expanded my search a little bit and found the film canister.

I met up with mom and grandma again and we went searching for some ice cream.  We wandered into The Sweet Shoppe and ordered two strawberry milkshakes and a chocolate one.  They hit the spot since it was too late for lunch and too early for dinner.  We headed back to the van and decided to head towards Anacortes.

We still had some time to kill so I wanted to drive up to Cap Sante Park to see the view that I've been reading about...plus there is a cache up there.  We followed the directions and headed up the hill to the viewpoint.  We parked and got out.  The view was amazing!  A total 360 degree view of the town, the harbor and the surrounding islands in the Puget Sound.  I recommend this place to everyone.

I grabbed mom and had her come with me to get the cache, Sante Cap (GC430KK).  It was hidden away from the parking lot down a small trail.  I found the obvious stump with the bark on top of it.  When I revealed the cache it was a camo taped miniature baseball helmet.  I enjoyed it.

We headed back down the hill to check into our hotel, Islands Inn.  It wasn't bad.  The room was laid out weird but it served its purpose, we had beds and a shower.  I helped mom unpack the van and we rested a little bit.  Our feet were so tired from walking around.  About an hour later, mom wanted to go back over towards the marina so we could take some more pictures.  We headed on over.  While they walked around I found two caches, Rotary Rambler (GC3MNJY) which was on the hill near the gazebo and North Basin Bison (GC3TPRM) near the Preston.  I grabbed one more before dinner, Bird's Eye View (GC42BBX) which was a fake crow in a tree.

We were getting hungry so we headed over to The Rockfish Grill.  It was tasty food.  I ended up trying out one of their beers, Annie's Amber.  Mom got a T-shirt and I bought one of their pint glasses mostly because I liked their logo.

We grabbed two more caches on our way back to the hotel, which was on the south side of town.  Flower Pot (GC45HBG) was in a business's yard and Oh Thank Heaven (GC395WV) was in a tree next to a 7-11 store.

When we got back to the hotel, mom got ready for bed and turned on some sports, grandma got ready for bed and I did some internetting, got clean and talked to Ben for a while before passing out next to grandma.

Next Adventure:  Deception Pass, Oak Harbor, Coupeville, Langley, Clinton, Geocaching and Dick's