Weekend in Seattle

I just got back from spending the weekend with Anya in Seattle. We saw some really cool stuff, and it's definately worth checking out the pics:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/79366206@N00/sets/72157600081212311/

There are admittedly a lot of pictures, but there's basically 3 different places pictured:

The bulk of the pictures (starting at the beginning) are from the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. The Skagit Valley is a super-fertile valley about 60 miles north of Seattle on I-5. They grow a ton of flowers (primarily tulips & daffodils) there, and have a big celebration every spring. I'm not usually a big flower person, but this was a really interesting place to spend a few hours. The pictures, however impressive, don't really do it justice. The effect of having tens of thousands of bright flowers carpeting a field is unlike anything I've seen before. On a clear day we would have seen some really cool views of the Cascades and Mt. Baker (one of the volcanoes and also the snowiest place on Earth), but even this time of the year they're usually shrouded in clouds.

After the many pics of the tulip festival are some additional pics of the Japanese Garden in Seattle. As the pictures show, it is also a very beautiful place that we will happily take any visitors. Unlike the tulips, though, I'm pretty sure it will stay impressive year-round. It's perhaps 10 minutes from downtown Seattle but feels like you're out in the country. Those goldfish are about a foot long.

The last few pics are of Snoqualmie Falls, a very impressive 300-foot waterfall about 30 minutes' drive east of Seattle on I-90 (and only maybe 10 minutes from Issaquah, were Anya works) at the edge of the Cascade Mountains. If they get heavy rain or snow, there can be water flowing across the entire ridge.

-Erik