The Tulip Festival

And tulips, children love to stretch
Their fingers down, to feel in each
Its beauty’s secret nearer.
–Elizabeth Barrett Browning, A Flower in a Letter

Every year, Thanksgiving Point holds a Tulip Festival, adorning their 55-acre gardens with over 250,000 tulips. It is a sight to behold. The Festival lasts about two weeks and I went at the mid-point this year. I got there just after the gardens opened and was surprised at how many people where already there that day. It was a beautiful day out, so who could blame them, right? Armed with fresh batteries in my camera, copious amounts of sunblock on all exposed skin, and a map, I set out to enjoy the gardens. It was so amazingly beautiful.

If you right-click on the photo, you can choose to open it in a new tab and you can look at it close up, or you can see the individual photos on flickr.

Every year they sponsor an amateur photography contest. I meant to enter, but missed the deadline by a couple of days. If I'd have had my act together, the uncropped photo in the center above would have been my entry. Below is as it was taken, no cropping or digital tweaking. I'm a little disappointed I missed the deadline. I don't pretend to be any great photographer, but this photo really makes me happy and it would have been fun to enter. The winner gets a season pass to Thanksgiving Point and their photo goes in the next monthly mailer. I'm trying not to think about it.