The bicycle is a great way to tour the tulip fields in the Skagit Valley. Photo by Jessica Lowery
Jessica Lowery (@XMcShiftersonX on Twitter) of Renton doesn’t take life for granted. A cancer survivor, she loves taking long bike rides and seeing new places, knowing that it’s her body that has made it possible. She shares this recent bike ride with us.
My husband and I had never been to see the tulips up north. So when we had a week off from work in April, I thought it would be a fun adventure to do a ride up that way. Not knowing where to go or what to expect, I used Ride with GPS to find a 63 mile route from a past Tulip Pedal. It was pretty flat, and when the ride was said and done, we ended up only climbing about 1,100 feet.
The morning of the ride, we drove to the Fir-Conway Lutheran Church in Mount Vernon. This was apparently the place to park. When we arrived there was already a car parked with an empty bike rack, and shortly thereafter another car arrived with 3 more cyclists ready to see the tulips!
As we pedaled out, about 10 miles passed before we saw the tulip fields. The two we saw were gorgeous. Rows and rows of tulips in every color you could imagine. Both farms were owned by the same family. We opted to stop at the less crowded, smaller farm a little farther in. After that we didn’t see another tulip on the whole route. We did stumble across some daffodil farms and joked that we saw more daffodils than tulips! Someone later informed us that the tulips had bloomed early this year.
Nevertheless, it was not a disappointing ride at all. I loved the open country roads and cute little towns we came across. Bow and Edison are especially tempting for cyclists, with places like the Edison Cafe, Breadfarm and Slough Food. Also, seeing the Cascades hanging out in the background reminded me of growing up in Everett.
As we continued out against the headwind, we ended up on Samish Island, a little peninsula of land that serves as a turnaround point in the ride. With steep cliffs that overlook Samish Bay and smell of salt water, we figured this was the perfect place to stop, eat, and take in our hard work and the beautiful weather.
