My readers will know that we don’t live very far south of the Skagit Valley, and it’s one of our favorite day trips any time of year. Spring is the best, due to the flowers that bloom in the Valley starting in March with daffodils, and continuing in April with the famous Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. So last weekend we went up to see the daffodils in all their splendor, and we were not disappointed. After a drive through the fields, we went to the town of LaConner to have a stroll down the Swinomish Slough waterfront and have an early dinner at the LaConner Brewing Company pub. Herewith, what we saw.

Here’s Mount Baker in all its glory, watching over the Skagit fields.

We saw fields full of blooming daffodils. Daffodil bulbs are an important product of the fertile soil of the valley.

Here’s what they look like close-up. A veritable carpet of yellow.

A little farther down the road, another beautiful valley picture of Mount Baker.

Next, it’s on to LaConner. It’s pretty much a tourist-trap, and during 3/4 of the year it’s crawling with tourists. On this day, it wasn’t too crowded at all. We normally park by the Marina, where there are parking spaces mostly unknown by the casual visitor. I always love stopping by the docks, to check out all the boats there. It’s always a tranquil setting.

Then, we strolled down to town, and stopped by our favorite viewpoint onto the Swinomish Slough, a tidal channel. When we were there, the tide was coming in.

Moored right in front of us was a big barge with a crane on it, and at the stern of the barge there was a curious structure. It is the pilot-house of a tugboat, and this is a piece of history. Foss Tugs was an early Washington company, and they had a huge fleet of tugboats based in Seattle. This is a piece of the Daniel Foss, one of the earliest tugs. I wondered what it is used for now!

The next interesting sight was alive, and fishing from a piling along the dock. I had to use the highest magnification on my phone camera to get a reasonable picture of him.

He’s a Belted Kingfisher, and he was fishing in the quiet waters next to the dock. He stood nice and still for us to take his photo, and he keep turning around so we could capture him from different angles!

Footprints in the mud near the shore. I wonder what kind of bird makes those three-toed prints.

After we had our meal, it was time to head home, into the sunset.

The above and below photos were captured while the car was in motion. Pink mountain, and vivid sunset.