Tip-toeing through the Tulips

Yesterday I made the drive to the Skagit Valley for the annual Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, which lasts the entire month of April. The valley is about 60 miles north of Seattle - equal distance south from Vancouver, B.C. I had heard this was quite spectacular, and since it was a beautiful day, so I made the trip.
First I went to a nearby town called LaConner, which is on the water, for lunch at a seaside restaurant. What a darling little town! Quaint, artsy - it reminded me a great deal of the towns on Whidbey Island. While I sat and had my salad on the deck, I saw a seal swim by, several boats and even a landing by a float plane.
So onward to one of the two major tulip fields, Roozengaarde. Roozengaarde is a bulb farm founded by William A. Roozen, who passed away in 2002. On a business trip in 1946, he passed through the Pacific Northwest and when he reached the Skagit Valley, he knew he was to return and grow bulbs just as his family did in Holland in the early 1700s. There's even a little Dutch windmill there!
Wow! I've never seen such spectacular color! It's absolutely breathtaking. Acres of tulips of many different varieties. It was so beautiful.
I sort of felt like I was at the Gorge Amphitheatre, due to the traffic issues. Once you get back there, just like the Gorge, it's country roads, and when everybody decides to leave (at the same time) it's a freaking nightmare. It took an hour and a half for me to get back to I-5 (about 10 miles). Crazy. Next time I'll go on a weekday.
I didn't make it to Tulip Town, the other enormous field, because I was worried about time, but it was still very impressive.