Easter Weekend: Tulips and concerts and General Conference and baskets of goodies

Did you know that the world's largest producer of tulips, daffodils and irises is right here in the Pacific Northwest?  Well, it's true.  Back in the mid-Twentieth Century, some tulip farmers from the Netherlands immigrated to Skagit Valley (just north of Seattle) and started growing their bulbs in the rich, wet earth.  Now, sixty years later, thousands of acres of Skagit Valley are covered each spring with vast swathes of gorgeous color, like a giant patchwork quilt.  Naturally, the farmers and neighboring villages have capitalized on the tourist draw and created an annual Tulip Festival for the peak bloom period.

When I first met Justin, he told me about the Tulip Festival and showed me some of the pictures he'd taken in previous years.  This weekend he made good on his promise to take me out there to see it for myself.  We left mid-morning on Saturday and met up with Anya, a friend of Justin's, and made our way north toward the tulip fields.  Not surprisingly, given that this was peak tulip season, a holiday weekend, and gorgeous weather to boot, the entire population of the western United States (and southern Canada, probably) had decided to visit as well -- which meant traffic, traffic, traffic. 

After we'd inched our way far enough into the village of Mount Vernon to be within walking range of Calico Cupboard Cafe and Bakery, we parked our car and walked.  As per usual, we were on the verge of starvation and found it necessary to devour a giant cinnamon roll instantly upon arriving. 
 



The cinnamon roll was delicious and gooey and wonderful in all ways, and it whetted the appetite nicely for the tasty, savory hash that followed.



Linda's Brother-in-Law Hash: eggs, smokey ham, mushrooms, spinach,
tomatoes, feta cheese, garlic, and country style potatoes.



With a hearty lunch like that, we needed to get out and see some tulip fields!  Hoping to avoid the worst of the crowds, we skipped the biggest tulip farm and found one a little further out called Tulip Town.  We paid our entry fee and were ushered into a hall-o'-kitsch . . .

 

. . . and out to the back fields, where a cheerful little windmill awaited. 

 

Interestingly, next to the windmill was also a little enclosure with a plaque in honor of the "Hispanic Crew" that helps maintain the fields.

 

We'll take the plaque in the spirit it was offered and not focus
on whether "Mexican" and "Hispanic" are really synonymous...

Spread out in all directions behind the windmill were the fields of blooming tulips.  The effect was glorious.

 

 

The crowds weren't as bad as we had expected based on the amount of traffic, and for the most part they followed the rules of no picking the flowers or wandering out into the rows.  We pulled out our cameras and snapped the obligatory selfie . . .

 

Anya wandered off on her own pretty quickly, so we missed out on a full group photo.

  . . . and then got down to work with our "serious" photography.

 

 

I started out trying to capture the feeling of walking through a terrestrial rainbow.  I really loved the giant blocks of color and seeing how they narrowed into stripes as they spread into the distance.

 

 

 

 

Then I focused more on the textures and patterns -- and anomalies -- of so many repeated blooms in one place. 

 

 

 

One of these things is not like the other . . . .

I also tried to focus on the individual qualities of certain types of tulips, and even individual blossoms.

 

Believe it or not, these are tulips -- not peonies!

These lovelies made me think of irises.

 

 

 

Tractors with covered seating pulled the more delicate and/or mud-averse visitors on
driving tours around the fields.

By the time we had made it all the way around the field, we were getting chilly in the cool spring wind and our photos started to all look the same.  So we found Anya again, bought several bunches of cut tulips, and headed out.

This is Justin pretending to look at the camera while actually
being a responsible driver and watching the road.

We thought about visiting some of the other farms, but lunch had worn off and we felt unmotivated to keep fighting with traffic and parking.  So like the good little Mormons we are, we set our sights on Café Rio for an early dinner.

Why haven't they opened a location in Seattle?

We separated after dinner.  Anya stayed up north to visit her family; Justin and I headed back down to Seattle.  We stopped by my place long enough to change our clothes and throw the flowers into water before driving downtown to Benaroya Hall.  The last installment of my season's subscription to the Seattle Symphony was a really delightful performance of Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 2 and Prokofiev's 5th Symphony.  I hadn't heard the Chopin before, but the pianist was fantastic and really captured the brilliance and lyricism that Chopin is known for.  The Prokofiev is an old favorite of mine from back in college, when I first performed it with the University of Utah's orchestra.

Almost as exciting as what was going on on-stage:  Justin put on a jacket!

Next morning was Easter, and the weather was gorgeous.  Justin and I watched the morning session of General Conference and enjoyed the sun and tulips from the day before. 

Unfortunately, we weren't able to listen to the afternoon session of Conference.  Justin's parents had invited us to Easter dinner at their house on Bainbridge Island, so we were in transit on the ferry instead.  But Easter dinner was great, and it was fun to spend some time getting to know Justin's family better -- and I was surprised to find an Easter basket waiting at my place on the table.  I haven't had an Easter basket since I was a kid!

Dark Swiss chocolate with coconut? Fresh mangos?
I like the way this Easter Bunny thinks.

By the time I got back to my house that night, I was tired and hadn't finished most of the chores that I "needed" to get done over the weekend.  But I felt happy and blessed to have been able to enjoy the beauty of God's creations, the messages of great church leaders, and company of good people. 

Puerto Vallarta (Day 5) - Coming home

Oh, the last day of vacation!  You wake up in the morning and even though you know your flight isn't until 4pm, you know that basically everything is over -- which of course means that every little decision takes on cosmic importance.  Do I go running, or do I have a leisurely breakfast on the terrace?  Do I go to the beach, or go shopping, or sunbathe on the roof?  Do I pack my toothbrush now or wait until after I've had lunch?

In the end, I let the weather and laziness decide for me:  It was just way too gorgeous to spend the morning walking through shops, and the thought of waiting for the elevator and walking 50 yards to the beach (where I would battle sand and pan-flute musicians) just seemed like too much, so I sunscreened up and installed myself in a lounge chair on the deck.  Justin joined, and we spent the morning alternating between tanning and the pool.

Everyone else still wanted to go shopping, so Justin and I ended up on our own for lunch.  We skipped the taco stands and went to La Palapa, one of the nicer restaurants on the waterfront. 
 

Fresh salad with peaches and pistachios

Chicken fajitas with grilled peppers, mushrooms and pineapple

Justin got the fish tacos

The food was the best I had in Puerto Vallarta -- but the service was outrageously slow.  We thought we'd have enough time to finish lunch and get back for me to change into airplane clothes (unfortunately not the same thing as vacation clothes, when one's destination is Seattle) and pack up the last few things.  Instead, I ended up snarfing my fajitas, leaving Justin to pay the bill, and then running through the crowds back to the condo to change sweatily into my jeans and rush to the car. 

I got to the airport about 45 minutes later than I'd hoped but still had no trouble getting on the plane.  It's amazing how effortless air travel can be when you're not in the US with all the ridiculous TSA procedures!

Adios, Mexico!

A few hours later, I landed in San Francisco.  Although my flight continued on to Seattle, I still had to deplane, go through immigration and customs, and then recheck my bags, redo security screening (where I was "randomly" selected for an additional patdown by a super-incompetent man who filled me with rage), squeeze past the women who didn't understand why I gave them the stink-eye for standing in the middle of the moving walkway with their 47 bags, and reboard the exact same plane, in the exact same seat.  Fortunately, I did have enough time to grab a bite to eat before the flight, so that made everything a lot better for everyone.

It's amazing how far a bite of pizza and some Diet Coke will go toward
soothing TSA/passenger-induced orneriness!

A few hours later I landed in Seattle.  I walked out into the chilly, rainy night and instantly missed  the sunny beach and my friends (who all stayed through the following Wednesday).  A half-week vacation is certainly better than nothing, but it also whets my appetite for more!  Fortunately I do have a few more trips on the horizon:  First an Easter trip to Idaho, followed by a couple of weekends in Portland and Vancouver, BC.  Then it's off to China! 

Puerto Vallarta (Day 4) - Botanical Gardens and Ocean Grill

Saturday morning dawned bright and gloriously sunny.  I went for a nice long run along the waterfront -- the first half with Justin, then by myself to tackle some hills.  When I got back, I discovered a condo full of people and terrific spread of delicious breakfast!  It's hard to beat fresh fruit and an omelet on a deck with views like this.
 

 

After breakfast, Justin and I left the rest of the group lounging on the roof and hopped in a taxi to visit the Puerto Vallarta Botanical Gardens.  They were about 30 minutes south of town, straddling a jungly ravine with streams at the bottom.  We bought our tickets and set out to explore -- and by "explore", I mean "take close-up pictures with our fancy cameras."

There were enough free range air plants
to blow a Portland hipster's mind.

I loved these delicate little irises. I hadn't expected to see them.

Wings looking a little worse for wear, but still kind of cool.

Anyone know what kind of plant this is?  These
weirdly alien flowers dangled from a thick vine.

Purple pompoms everywhere!

Unfortunately, we didn't have time to make it all the way through the gardens before we needed to regroup with our driver and head to the beach.  We had reservations, you see, for a late afternoon dinner at Ocean Grill, a secluded restaurant perched on a cliff at the mouth of a private cove with a lovely white sand beach.  It's accessible only by boat, and there are only three departure times per day.  We wanted to be on the midday boat so that we could enjoy the private beach before dinner.

Water taxis and a strangely empty beach at the Boca de Tomatlan

The taxi took the folks with the early dinner reservations first, then came back to pick us up.

Too windy on the boat to wear hats!

I had kind of hoped that the boat trip would be longer, but in about 10 minutes we'd been ushered onto a narrow platform and out to the beach.  We set up camp and began some serious beach lounging.

Wait a minute -- SINCE WHEN HAVE I HAD ABS?!

We selfishly wished the yacht hadn't invaded -- we could have had the beach all to ourselves.

Three o'clock rolled around all to quickly -- we reluctantly struck camp and clambered gingerly over hot rocks to the restaurant.



Once seated under the shady thatched roof, we placed our orders and sat back to enjoy the views. 

Virgian pina colada

Grilled octopus with olive tapenade, paprika potatoes and mango salsa

Key lime pie.  Seemed appropriate for the location.

We initially draped our towels to dry on the railing. Our scandalized server immediately
whisked them off out of sight.  Probably the right call.

Justin, Jon, Todd, Jed, Randall,
Vince (the third Seattleite, who arrived late the night before), and then moi

The food was good, though not as good as the views.  And once we'd finished our meal, we moved to the casual seating area to take in those views from a more recumbent position until the boat came to take us back to the car.



We got back to town a little before sunset, so we went straight upstairs to our infinity pool to talk and watch the sunset until it got dark and was time for bed.  It was a quiet, simple evening, but also really great.  After three full days together, we'd gotten to know each other and a fun group dynamic was starting to emerge.  People were more relaxed and easy with each other -- that lovely moment when acquaintance shifts to friendship.