Ah, the tulips

Early morning light through the tulips

You will have to indulge me, as I have had the hardest time deciding which of the hundreds of pictures I took at RoozenGaarde Tulip Gardens last Wednesday to share with you today. This is the latest I have ever been at the gardens, because the warm springtime temperatures and sunshine made everything two to three weeks ahead of the usual schedule. By the time this weekend is over, most of the color will be fading quickly.

Just amazing

We arrived early, since it was a beautiful day and we knew that hordes of people would be coming later. I arrived fifteen minutes before opening time at 9:00am, and there were already dozens of people queued up to be admitted. I was hoping for pictures with the early morning light coming through the tulips, and I have been very pleased with the result.

Hyacinths among the tulips

The display gardens are as beautiful as I've ever seen them, and I enjoyed walking through them for a couple of hours. My eyes were getting quite full, but my camera gives me the possibility of walking through them again as I share them with you.

Snapping pictures right and left

As you can see in the picture above, more and more people began to arrive to view the tulips as well. In the foreground, you can see that some early bloomers had already been "topped" and are gone. But there were still plenty of tulips to see.

A favorite shot before the crowds arrived

Within a short time, maybe an hour after arriving, I would have been unable to capture this picture because of the sheer numbers of people who were also enjoying the tulips. This path was actually crowded before we left. Although I had traveled to the Skagit Valley alone, I met some friends there, and I'll tell you about that adventure at another time.

Tulips for miles

We then traveled down to the tulip fields after seeing the display gardens, and that was also an amazing treat. As you can see here, on the left and right of these tulip rows are more colors, more to see than was possible to absorb. Since we had several days of warmth and sun before Wednesday, the fields were almost dry.

Now that's pink

And the colors! I loved seeing the incredible variety of tulips for us to enjoy. I thought this color was my favorite, until I saw this field.

Purple ones

Yes! My favorite color in a beautiful tulip, with full sun and the most perfect day for seeing these beauties. By this time, however, I was almost full up to the brim with eye candy, and I was getting hungry. We headed off to Nell Thorn Restaurant in La Conner for a sumptuous lunch with delightful company. Then it was time to head back to Bellingham, after a wonderful day.
:-)