About Me

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Delta, British Columbia, Canada
I took very early retirement from teaching in '06 and did some traveling in Europe and the UK before settling down to do some private tutoring. As a voracious reader, I have many books waiting in line for me to read. Tell me I shouldn't read something, and I will. I'm a happy, optimistic person and I love to travel and through that believe that life can be a continuous learning experience. I'm looking forward to traveling more some day. I enjoy walking, cycling, water aerobics & and sports like tennis, volleyball, and fastpitch/baseball. I'm just getting into photography as a hobby and I'm enjoying learning all the bits and bobs of my digital camera. My family is everything to me and I'm delighted to be the mother of two girls and the Gramma of a boy and a girl. I may be a Gramma, but I'm at heart just a girl who wants to have fun.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

La Conner Tulip Festival

We're hoping to spend a day in La Conner, Washington, this month because of its annual Tulip Festival. I've only been to the town once (not during the festival) and recall it as being very quaint and "artsy." Here is a bit of history of the town taken from here:

Situated on the delta near the mouth of the Skagit River, La Conner was founded in the early 1860's and is Skagit County's oldest community. First settled by non-natives just after the Civil War, our early settlers included many with names recognizable today such as Alexander Underwood, Michael Sullivan, Sam Calhoun and A.G. Tillinghast. In 1869, John Conner purchased the trading post built by John Hayes, another early settler, on the west side of the Swinomish Slough and established a post office. In 1869, all the Town plus 70 acres was deeded to John Conner for $500! To honor his wife, Louisa A. Conner, the Town's original name of Swinomish was changed to La Conner in 1870. La Conner was briefly the county seat before Mount Vernon.
The early settlers diked hundreds of acres of land, creating farmland which would surpass per-acre yields around the globe. La Conner soon became a popular farm community and a hub for steamers carrying passengers and freight from Seattle. By the turn of the century, La Conner's population had reached 1,000. La Conner was a thriving community due, in large measure, to its proximity to the water. Logging and fishing prospered until the depression. Artists settled in the area, in the 1940's, enjoying the unique light and inspiration from nature. Renowned artists include Morris Graves, Guy Anderson, Richard Gilkey and Clayton James. Some artists were leaders of the Northwest School of Art. In the 1970's, tourists discovered the area along with folks seeking the peace and quiet of an old fashioned town.
Today, La Conner is a balance of people who work and live here, including the Swinomish Tribal Community, Shelter Bay residents from across the Channel, fishermen, farmers, artists, and carpenters - a diverse mix of cultures and educational backgrounds. If you need a place to relax and browse through interesting shops and art galleries, if you want to watch the waterfront or enjoy fine restaurants, inns and bed & breakfasts, then come to La Conner. You can also enjoy natural beauty and wildlife such as bird watching. La Conner is wintering grounds for swans and Canadian geese. The fertile farmlands continue to produce food and seed crops and, of course, our annual Tulip festival is celebrated around the world.

We're hoping to be able to walk in fields of tulips and take lots and lots of photographs, not only of the flowers but also of the countryside and the town itself. I hope the weather holds so that we'll get a nice sunny day. Stay tuned for reports and photos of our outing.

8 comments:

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

If your picture is anything to go by, it's a wonderful place!

CherryPie said...

I hope you get the chance it looks wonderful :-)

Katney said...

It is a wonderfully artsy little town. Don't miss the quilt museum. They ave wonderful exhibits. My friend Joy is the library director.

Maggie May said...

Magnificent picture and what a lovely place to be going to. Something to really look forward to.

The nearest we get to this is the *Tulips from Amsterdam*, though when I went to the Netherlands, I missed it! Went too late.

Smalltown RN said...

Oh I do love tulips. I remember when I lived in Langley and we lived not far from a tulip farm...and in the spring when the rows upon rows of colourful tulips where in bloom it truly was a sight to behold.

I am glad to hear you are getting stronger and I hope all goes well with you tests...You have done so well...you have got to feel good about that...and you have that wonderful man as a support for you...

Happy Weekend my friend...big gentle hugs....

nancygrayce said...

Oh, how beautiful! A field of tulips would be such a great place for pictures!

Jo said...

I've been to that tulip festival. It's wonnnnnderful. You will love La Conner too.

Barbara said...

Looks like a wonderful place, I hope you make it.