Author: Kay

Tour de Dung, 2 of 2

I lived for a long time in an area well populated with mountain bikes and I see bikes on the trail in the Dungeness Recreation Area. The ones in this race are a whole different ballgame. And is it totally girlie of me to say I liked the colorful shoes? You can see some of them in the photo below.

The course takes about half an hour and the speeds are about 24 mph. Though the groups of bicyclists are large, they pass by in a flash.

Tour de Dung, 1 of 2

The Tour de Dung (as in “Dungeness”) bicycle races were held in Sequim yesterday. The course is just short of 12 miles on a beautiful route described as “safe, dry, fast, and flat.” I enjoyed taking a front row seat.

The weather was good — that is, no rain or wind.

Races will be held again next Saturday. Locals, watch out for the racers. They are proceeded and followed by cars with signs and flashing lights.

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, 3 of 3

The downside of making a day trip to the Skagit Valley from Sequim is that the schedule – and thus the light – is subject to the ferry crossings from Port Townsend to Whidbey Island. And this, regrettably, meant no soft angles of morning light nor honeyed evening kiss on the flowers. It’s a day trip worth making and as we left we began planning a “next time” in which there would be an overnight stay that would allow pictures at either end of the day.

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, 2 of 3

Two of the larger Skagit Valley growers, RoozenGaarde and Tulip Town, host formal exhibits and tours of their facilities and charge an admission fee. Above is a shot of a display at RoozenGaarde. Because it was a warm day and our dog Chord was not allowed on their guest list, we opted to explore on our own.

We began our day in LaConner, a sweet little town on the western edge of the valley, then zigged and zagged around the fields. The website for the festival has a map of the valley, a calendar of events, and descriptions of the activities throughout April. When our LaConner breakfast scones wore off, we followed signs to the Kiwani’s Salmon Barbeque in Mt. Vernon and fortified ourselves for the trip home.

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, 1 of 3

Washington’s Skagit Valley is located roughly 70 miles north of Seattle and is an agricultural region that partly specializes in tulips and flower seeds. Tulips grown in the area are celebrated throughout the month of April with the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. While there are local events such as art shows, a wine festival, and a Kiwani’s salmon barbeque, the festival is largely a free self-paced drive along fields of tulips and daffodils.

We visited in late April last year in an attempt to avoid the soggy weather that had plagued us for months and continued well into April. We succeeded in finding a sunny day, but the downside was that some fields had already been plowed under. There were still tulips, but no fields of blooming daffodils. Drat.

This was my first real outing with the camera I now use, which is to say I think I’d do things differently today.

This post is part of the Weekly Top Shot series hosted by Madge of The View from Right Here. To see other posts, click below: