Tulip Time
This post may offend some readers. Don't expect the usual glowing travelogue. There are no tulips in my garden. Just the thought of them makes me cringe. I dread the approach of April, because it means the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival will be commencing. For this one month of the year, I become a xenophobe. Thousands of tourists will come to view these "Lilies of the Fields," oblivious to the lesson they may teach. Don't expect to find meditation and introspection in this sermon. Instead, picture a horde of desperate ants on a food source. To some of us who live here, it is really the Skagit Valley Traffic Festival. Unless you enjoy traffic jams, it is wise to stay away during April weekends. Draw a square defined by Interstate 5 between Conway and Burlington, State Road 20, the La Conner Channel and Fir Island Road. Inside that zone, don't be surprised to find total pandemonium. Some visitors believe that traveling in someone else's neighborhoo