Backpacking Bill

Today we visited the tulip fields in Skagit Valley, they are truly spectacular. We started the day with a wonderful breakfast at Kveta and Jim’s farm. They then guided us through the tulip fields. We are catching the last of the peak of the tulips. We joined by our friends, Kveta and her husband Jim. They are both involved in agriculture here and know the best places and a lot of the background of the tulip industry here. I will let the photos tell the story, there is not much I can add.

No, we are not in Holland. Factoid: many bulbs are shipped from Skagit Valley to Holland, repackaged as Dutch bulbs and sent back to the USA.

Next we had a delightful lunch in La Conner, a picturesque town on the Skagit River near where it enters Puget Sound.

Tina and I returned to our lodging and took a walk. Many of the houses here are architecturally modern.

Well, we made it to the airport in plenty of time. We checked our bags and made it to the plane to Atlanta. We have a little over an hour layover. This should give us plenty of time. They did mark our bags with a note that said rush. The plane was packed.

Made it to Atlanta, looks like another packed flight. This one will be over five hours.

Noted that the Roman Catholic Pope has passed. A few years ago we were visiting Jim who was doing a semester abroad in Rome. It was Easter. Tina finagled passes to the Easter service in St Peter’s Square from a Swiss Guard. We were really close to him when he made a round of the square in the Pope mobile. Since I am not Catholic, I cannot say plus or minus about his papacy but, he seemed like a decent person with a tough job at a challenging time.

The flight to Seattle was without issues and arrived early.

We are now waiting for the shuttle bus to Bellingham where we will pick up our rental car. As the flight was early, we were able to get on an earlier bus.

It has always interested me that the people at the Seattle airport dress in dark colors. Mostly black and dark blue and grey. I’m not in Savannah anymore.

Well, we made it.

This area, adjacent to Puget Sound, has a lot of recreational activities. We stopped to chat with some friends at their farm. Adjacent to their property is an area where parachutists land. They don’t jump from airplanes but from a ridge on an adjacent mountain. The wind currents keep them aloft for some 45 minutes. We saw as many as 4 in the short time we were there but there are as many as 25 in the air at one time.

We are starting an adventure to the West Coast. We have a number of goals for this trip:

• Attend the Tulip Festival in Skagit Valley. Although tulip farming was happening when I lived in the area as a lad, there was no festival. When we had the summer place on Samish Island, we were never there in the early spring when tulips were in bloom. This trip will allow us to experience one of the highlights of the area I was born. Acres of tulips in bloom will certainly be spectacular.
• We’ll visit my aunt Georgia, the last living relative from my Mother’s generation. Her daughter, cousin Nancy, is putting together a family gathering. Nancy’s husband is editing a copy of the 8 mm family films that my father took and I had digitized.
• I will spend some time sprucing up my parents gravesite. This may be my last opportunity to do so.
• We plan to visit a number of friends in the area as well. People we became close to when we had the Samish Island place.
• After Skagit Valley, we will travel to Vancouver BC and take the Rocky Mountaineer over the Canadian Rockies to Banff, Lake Louise then Calgary.

The challenge will be to get to the Savannah Airport in time for our 5:30 am flight.

I have been neglecting my posts this year. It is April and I haven’t posted since the oyster roast in February. I guess there hasn’t been much happening.

Last week Tina and I went on a ” Drive and Dine” with my car club. We went to the Pat Conroy Literary Center in Beaufort.

At lunch some of the other car club guys talked about the Air Show at the Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort the following weekend. So, this morning Tina and I are off to buy some ear protection and see the Navy Blue Angels flying team. But this time we will not be driving the Jeep.

Getting to MCAS Beaufort (Merritt Field) was an ordeal.

We first stopped at Walmart to buy ear protection as recommended. In the sporting goods area every piece of ear protection was sold. At checkout I noticed that a guy had a container of disposable ear plugs. He got them in the pharmacy section, I lucked out as there was another container. Now I am set for life ear protection wise.

It took us over two hours to make the 20 minute trip to the MÇAS. We then had a mile and a half walk to the entrance to the air show. It was worth the inconvenience. The Blue Angels put on quite a show. And there were a number of other air and parachute demonstrations. Needless to say, there was quite a crowd.

Over 100,000 people attended the Air Show

Evidently an oyster roast is a traditional event in the southeast. We were invited to our first Oyster Roast by our nextdoor friends. It took place at our friend’s family estate south of Savannah. It is now a private event space owned by what was the family enterprise and is now an international corporation.

We started with a tour of the home.

We started with roasting the oysters.

Then eating the oysters

Little did I know that there was a full barbeque brisket dinner to follow

Beautiful event in a beautiful place

The site of the venue was where the movie “Cape Fear” was filmed in the 1960’s. We watched the movie that evening.

We decided to drive to the beach Monday. A day like this is a great advertisement for South Carolina.

Tina and Bill

We made a short trip to Jacksonville and St Augustine. Jacksonville for shopping and St Augustine to see the Christmas lights. I was not expecting much but they turned out to be quite a sight to see.

Ran into many tourists from all over the US and Latin America. After dark the restaurants were really crowded.

We have the whole gang here with us this year. And, we are looking forward to a great time.

This is the day before Thanksgiving. The guys went off for an adventure: we went to a local gun range. It was the first time shooting pistol for son-in-law James, years ago for son Jim and me. Makes me want to get back into firearms.

Thanksgiving morning all of us participated in the local 5K run. Son-in-law James came in first and won a pumpkin pie. We will add it to the desserts for this evening. There are never enough pumpkin pies.

Tina and Emma set a beautiful table for the Thanksgiving meal.

And the meal was great

I will be writing a blog about our event in West Hartford after I get access to the photos. But, in the meantime I wanted to post some photos I took this morning.

We are spending the night at the Groton Inn in Mass. This morning there was a scene I wanted to share of the meadows behind the Inn.