I am a total tulip fanatic! So it’s no surprise I wanted to see the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival in western Washington. Read and view more about my second day there! (Spoiler alert: It was FABULOUS!)

Some of you who have known me for a while know that I am a complete tulip nerd. I grew up in an area that had/has quite a few people with Dutch heritage. There, tulips were almost synonymous with the concept of Spring. Many folks planted tulips in their yards, went to a local tulip festival, and I even played and marched 5 or 6 years in my schools’ bands in the tulip festival parade. So it’s no surprise I wanted to see the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival in western Washington. Read and view more about the experience!

I spent the Fourth of July this year in the Okoboji area in Iowa, as I sometimes do. This year, due to flooding in Northwest Iowa (heartbreaking), I had to take a different route than normal to get there. On the way home I was looking for fun stops on Google Maps and I spotted Lost Island Lake Nature Center a ways south of Spencer, Iowa. So I paid it a visit on the Sunday afternoon after the 4th.

As I have “acquired years and wisdom” (read between the lines), I have discovered that “tiptoeing through the tulips” is actually very beneficial for my well-being on multiple levels. I now LOVE gardens, particularly botanical gardens! Not only do they encourage me to get my steps in, the flowers, foliage, and trees enhance my mental health and feed my soul. The artwork inspires me. Listening to the birds sing and watching butterflies flit around calms and fascinates me. And I always learn something new. In short, spending time in a garden just makes me doggone happy. Maybe you can relate! 😁

If you’re like me, you love to discover unexpected little gems when you travel, especially ones that are underrated or somewhat unknown. When you find a place like that, it feels sort of like you have opened a surprise birthday gift and are delighted. That was the way I felt when I visited the ESSE Purse Museum and Store!