You know, everyone is sick right now. All over town. Half of my office has been out this week. So I vote that you do like I did on Tuesday and play hooky and head up to Mount Vernon to see the tulips. You know, for your health.

Don’t let the weather stop you. The very nice man at the cidery told us that Skagit Valley is in a convergence zone, which seems to mean that if it’s raining on the way up I-5 it won’t be raining much on the tulips. I don’t know what that means exactly, but it proved true–while it poured on the way up, we had a lovely day in the flowers. Heading out there on a weekday means that the crowds are practically nonexistant. The tasting rooms are empty and the fields are often quiet enough that an observant tulip-gazer can hear the bees buzzing in the flowers.

If you can’t get away during the week, they’ve got a whole mess of events happening on the weekends.