Kevin surprised me this weekend with an early birthday present – a night in La Conner and a tour of the tulips in Skagit Valley. It was the perfect mini get-away. We escaped out of Seattle on Friday and headed to Gina’s Place, a cute little cottage right in the heart of La Conner (all two blocks of it!).  We had a lovely dinner at Kerstin’s and by the time we were done, the town was pretty much abandoned so we went back and soaked under the stars in our private outdoor hot tub.  Pure relaxation.  So much so, add a little champagne and we were both fast asleep by 11pm!  We needed to be well rested to see the tulips though so it was ok. 

Saturday morning we slept in and had the Best.Breakfast.Ever.  We went to Calico Cupboard Cafe.  I have to mention it because my foodie friends would love this place.  I had the banana coconut pancakes.  It was so good that I turned to Kevin, said “I think I need to unbutton my pants” and then took another bite.  We bought a bunch of baked goods to go too and snacked on giant macaroons the rest of the day.

I love the tulips.  I’ve been several times and it’s always beautiful and memorable for different reasons.  This time, I will never forget the tulips because they weren’t in bloom yet!  There were fields and fields of colorful tulip buds but they hadn’t flowered.  I was mostly bummed because Kevin has never seen them before.  We did go to Tulip Town though.  They had a few rows in bloom, all very beautiful and we were able to get the obligatory tulip pictures taken.

On our way home, we stopped at the Mount Vernon street fair and we of course hit the outlet mall at Tulalip.  It was a long, busy, perfect day, that had us pooped and asleep by 11pm two weekend nights in a row. 

Kinda lame?  Yeah, we are. But it was the perfect storm of fun, exploration and relaxation!