.as if I were in Holland...part 1.

One of my goals in life is to go to Holland and ride a bike through the rolling fields of tulips.  Tulips are my ULTIMATE favorite flower, there is something so magical about them. I still remember the first boy who bought me tulips, Ben, because he said something that hurt my feelings (after 8 years together my husband FINALLY bought me some because he hated that there was that one guy before him who bought me tulips!).

In April, I had an unexpected early day off and nothing to do. I  knew the Tulip Fest was happening near Portland and that I really(really) wanted to go. After consulting the calendar and realizing that I go now or forever hold my peace, I packed up my camera gear and jumped into the car. An hour later I pulled into a gravel parking lot filled with mini vans and joined families galore at walking the vast fields of brightly colored tulips.

.Mt. Hood is always watching over us. 

I spent 2.5 hours in the heat, walking up and down rows upon rows of beautiful flowers. I took my time so I could appreciate the unique colors and shapes. Sometimes, I even stopped to smell the flowers and take it all in. There was a set of fields located in the back, far from the first popular fields that not a lot of people wandered over to. I would stand still and just listen to the loud hum of bees and bugs buzzing around me while I watched the groups of people in the field plot over. I thought to myself, if all those people would just stop for a moment, they to could experience this amazing part of nature. But alas that doesn't happen much, people stopping to take in the WHOLE experience, we are always moving on to the next thing that we can accomplish.

I took hundreds of photos that 2.5 hours....seriously, over 300 photos!! I have whittled it down to a "few" of my favorites.  Since I don't want to overwhelm you with photos in one post, I will have another post to share the last bit of photos with you!