The evolution of planning a spring trip

As you may have learned from other posts, I like tulips. They are one of my favorite flowers because of the connection they serve between my mother and I. Most travel sites and magazines would regularly feature tulip season in northern Europe. But that option did not seem attainable and I did not have a strong desire to travel internationally. Then several years ago I came across a tulip festival that was in the US rather than the famous ones in The Netherlands. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to have the experience of tiptoeing through the tulip fields without a passport, not to mention that it was in Washington state not far from one of my favorite locations so far. Enter: the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival.

In the pre-planning of this trip to the tulip festival I read several other blog posts and magazine articles, I searched locations to stay and eat, I reconciled my still needs to be completed list of national parks and considered my work and personal schedules for the best time to travel compared to the bloom schedule. When all was said and done I had the beginning of a packing list and several pages of things to do. I was thinking it would be best to plan a week-long trip to cover as much of it as possible. The highlights would be Mount Rainier National Park, North Cascades National Park and the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. A week-long trip would allow two to three days per destination. A minor attraction of the trip would also be to try different non-Starbucks coffee shops. The greater Seattle area has great coffee shops, so why not check them out. 

National Parks of Washington

As the spring season rapidly approached this plan evolved into something quite different. I nixed the national parks on this trip because early spring in mountainous national parks in the Pacific Northwest did not seem like the optimal idea. Yes the snow covered peaks would be beautiful and picturesque, but in the national parks I also wanted to do some hiking. While I have hiked in snow, it was not what I wanted to do or plan for on a trip. By taking those options off of the itinerary that reduced the duration needed for the trip. The trip was reduced to a long weekend to go to the tulip festival and a few minor activities in the area. 

Once a weekend was picked and plane tickets were bought then the real planning began. I looked more closely at the locations to visit. There are four main farms that participate in the festival. The farms are not far from each other so I figured it would not be difficult to hit them all in a day or two. This also lends itself to find a place to stay easily, most hotels are only fifteen minutes away. 

I also found that the weekend I would be traveling was the Welcome Back the Whales Festival in Langley, about thirty minutes from where I was going to be anyway. Whales are known to migrate through and live in Puget Sound and be seen from shore or out on the water. This other festival sounded like a small-town quirky activity that was unique and should be experienced while in the area anyway. Not to mention how fun would it be to watch a parade where all are invited to walk in the parade dressed up as their favorite marine animal? 

Places of Interest

And with that the pre-travel itinerary was set:

Evening flight into Seattle and stay in/ near Seattle

One day around the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival + one day exploring towns, beaches and the Welcome Back the Whales Festival on Whidbey Island

*weather dependent on which day is first because it is the PNW

Morning at a café to do a little bit of work, walk along the water or light hike, evening flight from Seattle

The trip is planned. Plane tickets bought. Hotel booked (and confirmed it is still on). Packing list made. Ready for a much needed trip of something that I have been looking forward to for awhile (a bucket list item of sorts).