A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.
To say that tulips are a big deal in the Skagit Valley would be a massive understatement. Just looking around the town of Mount Vernon one sees a huge smoke painted with tulips and tulip motifs worked into architecture and bridges. Several business are named for the flowers, such as the Tulip Inn. It’s a big business and it all comes to a head during the month of April when the tulips are in bloom. That’s when the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival takes place.
I’ve got some catching up to do. The last few weeks have been a relaxed whirlwind and I’ve been having too much fun to write about it. It’s Tulip Festival time here in Skagit Valley, but, more importantly, we’ve had a visit from my brother, Houston. The past week was spent showing him all our favorite tourist spots and having a great time in general.
The very first song I learned on guitar was this opening riff from “Secret Agent Man” by Johnny Rivers.
It’s a simple riff and can be played on just the upper two strings of the guitar. I was only five or six at the time, but I played it on both my brother Houston’s sunburst guitar from Sears and my sister Susan’s ukulele. I didn’t know any other chords, but I could play that riff. I had vague memories of it being associated with some TV show.
Fast forward a half-century…
In a recent post I stated that if news from this area reaches back east, then it’s generally bad news. There was one more event that I had intended to include with my list of Skagit Tragedies, but it doesn’t really fit with that list since (1.) it took place in Snohomish and (2.) it’s not a place that I drive by or see every day like the other places on the list. Having recently visited the site of the terrible Oso Landslide of 2014, I thought it worthy of its own post.