Four Seasons of Suncadia - Winter: check!

It's been almost a year since we first heard about Suncadia. Last February, at the Seattle Home Show, we learned that this "Suncadia" place we'd heard about in passing for many years, isn't a retirement community at all (seriously, for some reason that's what we thought); it's actually a resort community for families, with lots of people who own second homes there and some, even, who live there year-round. AND, we discovered, there's a private community at Suncadia, called Tumble Creek, where homes cannot be rented at all, where the lots are bigger, and where it's generally just a lot quieter and more private, but equally as beautiful.

 Long story short, we visited quite often in late winter and spring, and closed on our new property at Tumble Creek in June. We visited often in the summer and even once in the fall, but never saw Suncadia in the "dead of winter" - though we'd seen photos like this:

 The annual Owners' Meeting was today, so we decided to visit Suncadia in all its winter glory.

Snoqualmie Pass had looked iffy for the past few days, with news of a winter storm approaching, but the drive to Suncadia was just about as quick (80 minutes) and easy (all freeway) as it is in the summer.

The road was wet but no problem at all...

 ...even as we reached the summit - where there's still no skiing, but I have a feeling there will be soon!

Quinn loved the ride and didn't mind the cold at all!

Just as we thought, Suncadia looked beautiful in the snow!

Inside...

...and out.

After the annual Owners' Meeting, we headed out to our property at Tumble Creek.

Shasta and Quinn loved the snow!

 

 

Yeah, we loved it with them!

Our lot looked smaller in the snow for some reason -- or maybe it just looks smaller without the full foliage of summer. But we still love it. I can just see us in a cozy Pacific Northwest Lodge style home on this lot someday, watching the snow come down, all warm inside by the fire... (Yes, I'm a romantic!)

Of course we had to walk the "Spiritual Path" out to "Inspiration Point." I have a feeling this will be our daily morning and/or evening walk when we live here! The trail starts right across the road from our lot and leads to the most amazing view!

By the time we returned from our walk, we were both getting concerned about the worsening weather over the pass. Good thing we left when we did, because our drive home looked something like this:

I'm not sure I've ever been so happy to see RAIN!

So Suncadia passed the "winter" test - just like it passed the spring, summer, and fall (all beautiful!) test! I'm looking forward to this:

(Image borrowed with appreciation from www.suncadiaresort.com.)

Testing, testing!

I can't post from Live Writer anymore (sob!) and I can't seem to fix the issue, in spite of endless hours of research, lots of finger-crossing, password and setting changes, etc. So it looks like Blogger and I are going to have to get acquainted. But Blogger isn't WYSIWYG, so I can't imagine ever falling in love... or even like. Blogger, you'll be lucky if I end up tolerating you!

The problem seems to arise when I post multiple photos. So I'll do just that (masichist that I am) and see what happens on Blogger.

But which pics should I post?

Have you ever seen the back side of water - anywhere but Disneyland, that is? Well, here you go!

 This is Silver Falls State Park in Oregon, where you can actually walk behind gorgeous waterfalls. It's a very cool place!

Two visits to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival (One too early and one almost too late!)

Two Wednesdays ago Elisabeth and I drove to Mount Vernon in hopes of finding the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival in full bloom. Like this (courtesy of Seattle Pipeline):

We were fairly disappointed to find that pretty much only daffodils were blooming then.  But how beautiful they were!

(I swear, Grace poses for photos!)

At Rosengaard Gardens, the tulips were wanting to bloom, but most of them looked something like this:

Some tulips had just begun to bloom, but it was obvious that their full splendor was yet to come.

Today, in spite of another dismal weather forecast, we attempted the tulip festival again, knowing it was our last chance for the year, since the festival ends on April 30th. 

Ahhhh… SO MUCH better!

Since this is the last week of the festival, there was a lot of tulip-top-off-lopping going on!  It seems such a shame to see these guys lopping off those tulip tops…

- but apparently that’s important for next year’s growth.  So don’t cry about these poor lopped tulips, sad as they look.

Here’s something to make you happy: children, animals, and (un-lopped) tulips!  (Yes, I like the word “lop.”  Say it twenty times in a row and I promise you will too!)

Of course, like everyone there, we had to attempt a few tulip-enhanced portraits, just for fun!

So finally, after more than twenty years in the Pacific Northwest, we finally made it to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. 

Twice!