Utah Tulip Festival: Color in the Middle of the Desert

by Jyl Johnson Pattee on September 9th, 2012 | No Comments »

My husband and I have very different experiences with tulip festivals.

Troy lived in Holland before he met me. Holland! You know, that enchanting below-sea-level country vivacious and plentiful with flowers? During tulip festival there, from what I hear, color oozes in and out of the fields and the city for inhabitants and travelers alike to stop their busy lives and take stock of the beauty. Who wouldn't want to visit and see for themselves? Definitely me after hearing Troy talk.

After we got married, I almost got my chance to go to a tulip festival... just not in Holland.

Troy and I visited friends in Seattle, drove two hours north ready for a colorful adventure, and arrived to find one lone tulip in a sea of dirt fields. Apparently, the flowers had bloomed early and we didn't just miss the glorious majority, we missed all but the one wilted and barely standing survivor. I was beyond disappointed, but laughed it off, figuring that strengthened my argument to go to Holland.

But I didn't have to. You can only imagine my excitement when Thanksgiving Point, a local Utah organization, opened a world class flower garden complete with waterfalls, their rendition of the Secret Garden, rivers, and, yes!, an annual tulip festival only 10 minutes from my house.

I typically take my kids, but this year, I went with the Mom It Forward team (from left: Jen Tilley, Jill Greenlaw, me, and Cari Thompson with photo by Kathy Dalton).

And fortunately, it never disappoints.

Here's some pictures I snapped while at the SNAP Conference (an awesome event geared to creative/design/DIY bloggers), held right during Thanksgiving Point's Tulip Festival (brilliant!).

You can see tulips in bunches of block colors...

...or top down, getting a peek inside...

...or zoom in for a close up (photo by Jen Tilley)...

...and then back up to take in the full picture.

However you view them, they won't disappoint.

I wonder how they compare to Holland. Hmmmmm! Maybe I need to check out the differences for myself? LOL!

What are your favorite flowers? If you could have a big bouquet of flowers on your kitchen table right now, what would be included in it? What colors would they be?

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Jyl Johnson Pattee

An active part of the Mom It Forward team, Jyl primarily writes about parenting, social good, and all things travel related. In a past life, Jyl was an award-winning copywriter and designer of corporate training programs for Fortune 100 companies. Offline, Jyl is married to @TroyPattee; a mom to two teen boys and a beagle named #Hashtag; loves large amounts of cheese, dancing, and traveling; and lives in the beautiful Rocky Mountains. Topping her bucket list is the goal to visit 50 countries by the time she's 50.