The Tulip Fields

We stayed overnight in Anacortes with friends, and when we drove home today we took our usual route through the back fields between Anacortes and the freeway exit at Conway. That takes us by some of the tulip fields, so we got to see some tulips after all. Enjoy!

License Plate Fun from the Tulip Rallye

Here are a couple of the more interesting license plates we saw at the rallye.

MG Car Club NW Tulip Rallye

Yesterday Phil and I took the Miata up to the Skagit Valley to participate in the 32nd annual Tylip Rallye sponsored by the MG Car Club NW. This is the time of year when the tulip fields in the Skagit Valley are in bloom and the Tulip Festival is held to facilitate the many people who flock there to see the tulips. This was Phil's second car rallye and my first. Given the rallye's title, we naturally expected to be driving through the tulip fields. Instead, we and the 250+ other cars that came were sent on an interesting series of minor and a few short stretches of major roads to the east of Mt. Vernon. We had a seven page guide full of directions and puzzles to answer by finding the things along our route. We missed a number of the puzzle questions, and by the time we finished four hours later, my eyes were tired from squinting to try to read road signs and look for the various items around and on houses and buildings that helped us answer the puzzles. We didn't miss any turns, which was good, because much of the time we had no idea where we were! We explored the tiny towns of Hamilton, Lyman and Concrete, as well as many hills, dales and lengths of the Skagit River around them. It was fun, and lots of different kinds of cars participated, including several that were not all all sports cars (an old Plymouth Fury, a couple of Range Rovers, and a few regular old vans and station wagons). Here are a few pictures of cars at the rallye. I'll do a separate post of a couple of fun license plates.