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Archive for the ‘Events’ Category

Daily life keeps us busy. Sometimes an escape is needed in order to just hit the biological reset button. A quick escape can be all that it takes to slow life back down and begin to enjoy the moment again. Recently, Monica and I left the daily grind behind with a trip to smell the roses. Actually they were tulips.

Mr. Happy out for a Sunday ride along the Skagit Valley Tulip Fields

Every spring the Skagit Valley bursts into bright hues of yellow, red and many mixtures of colors for the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival.

Celebrating 17 years, the event showcases local farmers growing hundreds of acres of tulips, irises and daffodils. These crops bring a beauty to open fields that few others can match.

The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is also a mapping and commuting exercise that can get bogged down by the thousands of people clogging the narrow rural roads along the fields. A narrow-track vehicle such as a scooter or motorcycle can be a valuable means of transportation to experience the amazing blossoms of vibrant color.

Cars and trucks get stuck behind the throngs of other caged people out looking at the flowers. Motorcycles allow quick in and out access to each field. Sometimes filtering through the stop and go traffic is required to get past the folks dangling cameras out of gas-guzzling SUVs to snap photographs.

Skagit Valley tulip field in bloom. Many colors open the acres of farmland to the mountains in the background.

Monica and I pulled on our Aerostich Roadcrafter suits and rode two-up on our Suzuki V-Strom 650 out of our garage and down the street to stroll among the flowers at the Tulip Festival.

We stop for breakfast at the Farmhouse Restaurant just west of Mt. Vernon, Washington on State Route 20. This is a great spot to meet up with other riders to start the day. Today, however, we are on a solo mission.

After eating a hearty breakfast we straddle the bike and within a mile are taking in an entire field exploding in the deep red hue of freshly blossomed tulips. Monica fills the lens of her Canon Digital SLR camera with close-ups of petals and pistils and zooms out for wide shots of the 40-acre field.

There are entirely too many fields to see. So we hop on and continue to the next field that catches our eyes. We stop at fields along narrow paved roads with names such as Best, McLean, Calhoun and more. The festival provides a map showing the best places to visit. The large tulip companies, Tulip Town and Roozengaarde have nice displays if you’re willing to shell out some clams to see them. I wasn’t about to pay money to see flower displays when I can see them strewn out across entire fields. We motor right past the Tulip Town and Roozengaarde.

Clean example of a mid-1960's Velocette parked in Anacortes, Washington.

After taking ample photos of the blooming tulips we decide to extend the ride and head to Anacortes for a stroll. While walking along downtown Anacortes we spot a couple of nice old British motorcycles. The one that really caught my attention was the 1965 (era) Velocette. It was truly a nice example from the family-owned firm out of Birmingham, England. As many small motorcycle manufacturers have done, they went defunct in 1971 after many racing successes. Just ten years before closing down the factory, Velocette made history by being the first motorcycle to cover more than 2,400 miles in 24 hours. That’s right, 24 hours straight at the ton mark (100 mph).

Most of Anacortes’ downtown stores were closed since it was a Sunday. We strolled along the closed store fronts for more than an hour. Then headed back home for an early dinner.

This can be a calm day ride if you can manage the traffic. Being among the blooming tulip fields throughout the Skagit Valley made for a nice day with my #1 pillion.  There are many events during the festival including a street fair, battle of the bands, master gardener talks and more. The festival is now over, but it is certainly worth marking on the calendar for March or April each year. 

Keep my motor runnin’. Every dollar is appreciated.

We are working on a 2010 events calendar for the site. The calendar will include events for all aspects of riding from ice racing to hill climbs, poker runs to single track runs, vintage Japanese shows to The International Motorcycle Show and everything else that you’d like to share with passionate riders. Send your events to Sean(at)BestScenicRoutes.com with “Events” in the subject line.