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!

What do you do when you have a passion for art, glass artistry, photography, tulips, unique flowers, the ocean, flowering trees, snow-covered mountains, lighthouses, wildlife, and nature all at the same time? You head to western Washington in April!

Prior to this past August, I had only been in Victoria British Columbia for a grand total of six hours, including two hours at Butchart Gardens, in 2013. That was just enough time to visit the gardens briefly, go to the Royal BC Museum, and have an ice cream cone downtown. After I got there in 2013, I realized that six hours was not nearly enough time to spend in Victoria. And in August of 2024, I got to go back! It was AMAZING!

If you’ve never been to the Himalayas, you will feel like you have when you visit the Omaha zoo’s Asian Highlands. One of the things that I like best about the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha is the immersive nature of all the exhibits. Each area of the zoo is appropriately themed down to the animal enclosures. This includes one of my favorite exhibits - the Asian Highlands. You will really feel like you have been transported to the mountains of Asia when you enter this area.