TULIP FIELDS + EMBRACING SPONTANEITY
A few weeks back I mentioned that my sister was stealing me away and we were going on a little adventure! Saying yes was the best decision I could have made. I had a pile of deadlines but nothing I couldn't shuffle around. So I decided to be spontaneous and embrace this chance to run around with my sister and niece in the best tulip fields the great Pacific Northwest has to offer.
I remember having slept in because I stayed up WAAAY too late per usual working on projects so when my phone started ringing I started slapping at it like a crazy lady because who likes alarms. Only to looked closer I see a text from my sister asking me if I wanted to head to Mount Vernon in 30 mins to see the tulip fields. My first thought was everything I had on my to-do list (which I try to make each night before I go to bed for the upcoming day),
But then I decided I needed to live in the moment. Grab my camera and hit the road!
On the road we called and placed an order for take out at our favorite Thai food place & yes it is literally a hole in the wall, but it is oh so good and authentic! We arrived in Mount Vernon, Danielle jumped out of the car to grab our take-out while I stayed with Kate in the car, singing to her obnoxious songs like any good Aunt should do to keep her entertained. Then we headed to a local nursery which was INCREDIBLE and so inspiring, but I'll have to save that for an entirely new post.
We saw an open field so we threw out a blanket and had a little picnic in the grass by a parking lot :) it was so fun
until...
We opened up our take-out only to realized we ordered the wrong thing, talk about driving 40 minutes talking the entire time about how excited you are to eat your Thai Basil Chicken and then being royally disappointed. After a few fake tears we decided to move on and laugh about it and instead munch down on some Lara bars.
After exploring the Nursery for an hour we jumped back into the car and drove around to find the perfect tulip field to snap some pictures in. There were so many different ones that our requirements began to look a little something like this.
"Does it have free parking, do we have to walk a long way, is there a lot of people...? "
We realized right then and there how old & lazy we were getting, so we decided to blame it on the baby.
After parking we jumped out of the car loaded up our cameras + baby and started to explore the beautiful fields! It was absolutely the perfect day to go on an adventure, not too hot, sun shining and beautiful flowers all around and everyone was really friendly. Maybe a little too friendly to be honest. We had maybe a dozen people stop to ask if they could take our picture for us (because we apparently look like we were struggling (aka the picture below)) or tell us we were taking our pictures the wrong direction because of the sun... ok people, thanks for the advice.
But despite all the strange social interactions we had a blast! For the past 10 years I have lived away from my home state and every year I would see people posting pictures of there time at the tulip fields and it would make me feel homesick all over again. Taking time out of my "planned" day was just what I needed, the day wasn't perfect, there were baby meltdowns, food that we didn't order, me having awkward picture moments, but it was just what we needed.
We had to let go of expectations and agendas and just enjoy each little moment. That's really what life should be about right? Enjoying the people around us, taking time to find inspiration in nature and pausing to really live in the moment, not looking toward the next 10 minutes.
Have you ever visited tulip fields or something similar? I would love to hear all about your adventures! Say Hi in the comments below :)