At the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, the weather was perfect and the tulips were in full bloom. It was a great place for a day ride. A bunch of folks from the Xbox team rounded up a few friends from ’round Microsoft and even a few local non-techies, and we all headed north together. Join our pack and travel along with us…

 

Part 1: Getting there

The first group of riders met up at Xbox Headquarters at about 09:30. We waited around for a few scragglers until 09:45 before giving up on a no-show and heading north.

^ The first bikes to arrive at Xbox H.Q., including a couple of Ducatis. We lost a couple of riders due to sickness, unfortunately.

^ We traveled north to the Tulalip Casino parking lot where we met up with our s econd group of bikers. Here a couple of alcoholics admire Jeff’s bike at the casino.

^ Everyone made it up just fine, and we took a few minutes to catch our breath.

^ Here in Marysville we were joined by Mel, Iain, David, and Bonnie. They were all aboard a couple of Harleys.

Part 2: Lunch in LaConner, WA

We headed west from Marysville toward the water. After a windy trip up Marine Drive which features views of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains, we went through the small town of Stanwood, where Jeff began inadvertently leading everyone over toward Camano Island. While there is a great motorcycle loop on Camano, we turned around, gassed up, and got back on our way toward LaConner…

^ Our convoy joined a couple of already-parked bikes to take up most of the block.

^ Becca crams a change of clothes and her helmet into the map compartment on the back of her Suzuki.

^ Clinton’s ability to manage the multi-billion dollar budget of a Microsoft division is nowhere near as impressive as his ability to manage his brand new Kawasaki ZX-6R. Doesn’t even have plates yet! He tried to hide his lust for the tricked-out yellow hog to his right, but he’ll have to make due with his new rocket.

^ The tulips might be the main attraction, but the bikes do garner a few looks.

Part 3: Acres of Tulips in the Skagit Valley

After lunch it was time to walk off the food amidst the fields of tulips. It was late in the season, so most of the remaining blooms were concentrated in a few fields — along with most of the automobile traffic in Washington state. We made our way to a good spot, and parking was a breeze.

^ Flowers as far as the eye can see.

^ David and Bonnie show us that black leather contrasts nicely with colorful flowers.

^ Most of the gang in the middle of the fields.

Part 4: Heading Home

We decided to take a scenic route home, via highway 20 over Deception Pass, down Whidbey Island, and across the Mukilteo/Clinton ferry. After an entire day of sun and near-70 temperatures, we almost got rained on at the tail end of this trip! We rode into Clinton (the town, not our finance manager) about 10 minutes after a very localized squall had come through. We stayed completely dry, though we missed the ferry by about 2 minutes. They run every half hour, so we were fine.

^ Our pack of bikes at the front of the ferry headed toward Mukilteo.

^ Viewed from above, our bikes plus some strangers’ make quite a pack.

^ This is the type of weather we rode through all day. Just beautiful. Whidbey Island falls into the distance.

^ It was starting to get a bit chilly, but everyone was able to warm up for a few minutes on the passenger deck of the ferry.

We departed the ferry and after Mukilteo, we headed our separate ways toward home. All in all it was one excellent day. We’re sure to have many more of these this summer.