THE TULIP FESTIVAL TRIP PT 5 The Bucket List Goal is Met!

     Success!!  The sun shown brightly (almost TOO warmly);  Enough tulips were out to satisfy us and the Daffodil Fields were resplendent with yellow!    In fact one of the workers at the Roozengaarde Garden said that most of the tulips had only popped out in just the last two days.  So - Thank you for the Sunshine.  It made our trip worthwhile!

They'll be here another year too if we are ever up this way, but for now we are glad that Nana got to see them and enjoy this experience with us!    Let the photos speak for themselves!

Great Aunt Adele with Ada Hunt - She snapped as many pictures as I did!

Nana and Steve at the same spot.  Roozengaarde is Dutch for Rose Garden

Aren't you proud of me?   I learned to make collages!  Let's hear a "Yay" for computer grandma!

These last two sets were taken at Tulip Town - another large visitable garden.  You can buy their amazing variety of bulbs.  Here in Tulip Town they have an indoor, protected display of most of their varieties in pots etc. for ease in choosing what you might like.



We spent tulip day evening in Lakewood, WA - which we found out is NOT up by Skagit Valley.  Washington ha two places with the same name.  One is Lake Wood and the other is Lakewood.   We wanted to visit Kim Lewis Page and her husband but they turned out to be in the Lakewood that was 100 miles away - near Tacoma.    We enjoyed our night with them and their cute puppies and were grateful for the wonderful bed they let us have (while they slept on couches and blow-up mattresses much against our will!)

Next morning we started for home.... via Kennewick Washington in the tri-cities area where we spent the night with Kallen and Emily Kidder and cheerful little Madison.  Emily is expecting their son sometime in the fall.  We miss them here in Las Vegas...but I can see why they are happy in Washington close to her family and with Kallen enjoying steady employment.

Naturally at both houses I had cameras close at hand...and no good sense to take pictures!   I think by now, after being on the road for almost three weeks, I was in let-down mode and happy to be heading homeward.

Spent the next night in Boise with Nana, then on to Nathan and Colleen's in Twin Falls.   Good to see them again.  The girls seem to have grown even more since our February cousin camp.  How does that happen???    Tara, the youngest (that is spelled "T-R-A-uh" for your information!  Just ask her!) warmed up to us much quicker this visit.  At the restaurant (where we celebrated Nathan's birthday early) she really packed it away.  Ate almost a whole loaf of bread AND her individual pizza by herself.   When I put my hand on her tummy and commented on how full it was, she said, "No, that's Gideon."   She is sharing Colleen's pregnancy apparently!   

We made a trek together to the cemetery that is just three blocks from their house.  You know me and cemeteries.   I can't drive by one without wondering if I have any relatives there.   Turns out I do!!!    The son of great great grandfather Jensen thru his second, plural wife.   

  Bye kids.  See you again in June sometime - or when Gideon is born if it is just the right time!