Tulips growing at Tulip Town
Who doesn’t love flowers? Especially spring flowers. I may be a bit biased but I live for tulips and there is absolutely nothing in the world like walking through a field a color when everything else is only just starting to wake up. The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is the place to be if you are into anything I just mentioned. The entire month of April there are a bunch of different events going on but they had a parade last weekend (April 14/15) and the actual festival that takes place in downtown Mount Vernon, WA with a street fair and loads of events going on is this weekend (April 20/21/22). For more info about what’s going on, check out their website.
But obviously the best part of all of this is going out to the farms and actually seeing the tulips. And tulips you will see! Rows and rows and rows of all different colors and varieties. The Skagit River Valley is actually the largest producer of tulips in the world (they recently surmounted the Dutch!) If you want to be able to walk around in the field and get up close to these beauties, there are a couple different farms that offer that as a tourist attraction for a fee. They are listed below:
- RoozenGaarde Farm: 15867 Beaver Marsh Rd, Mt Vernon, WA 98273
- Tulip Town:
Pacific Rhododendron (the Washington state flower) growing at Meerkerk Rhododendron Gardens
I will say, if you go on the weekend (especially if its a nice, sunny day) expect traffic. This is a very popular event and people come from all over the world just to visit these fields. On that note, Mount Vernon is about 2 and a half hours north of Olympia (and you do have to drive through Seattle so that is a generous estimate) so it is a bit of a trek to get up to see flowers. But if you love flowers half as much as I do it is a must-see event. Make a weekend trip out of it! There is excellent hiking and camping opportunities at Deception Pass State Park on Whidbey Island. Also, you can take a ferry from Fort Cassey on Whidbey to Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula to both avoid Seattle traffic and have a gorgeous drive back to Olympia via highway 101. Whidbey Island is really fun and has a slew of different places to check out and events going on. Last weekend (Saturday April 14) Langley had their annual Welcome the Whales parade, hosted by the Langley Whale Center, with festival activities and whale watching! Also on Whidbey Island is Meerkerk Rhododendron Gardens where you can walk around, looking at loads of different cultivars.
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