As promised, here are the tulips – and lots of them! On Mother’s Day, John and I biked to bagels and met my parents there for breakfast.
Hi mom!
While breakfasting, I had mentioned about wanting to go to the Albany Tulip Festival, but not sure I wanted to drive and hour and spend the gas. Turns out mom wanted to go as well, so a plan was formed! We biked home and made ourselves presentable, then drove down to Albany. I really had no idea how big a deal the Tulip Festival was. We were going to try to park near the festival, but since there was free shuttle from the free parking garage, we chose to take that instead. Best.decision.ever.
John and I all cleaned up riding the shuttle.
The shuttle dropped us off to a throng of crowds!
😯 Bigger festival than I was expecting! There was a huge craft show, entertainment stages, lots of food on a stick:
I was there to see the tulips, though! Moses proclaims “Let there be tulips!”
They are pretty much in peak bloom.
I fell in love with these crown imperials (fritillaria). They aren’t tulips, but they are bulbs. I have only seen pictures of them and they are fairly expensive, so I never got any. I think I will be purchasing some now that I have seen them up close and personal.
They kind of look like pineapples.
Grape hyacinths (muscari)
I love the color combos.
Some Morris dancers performing.
Accompanied by a concertina:
My poor mom and John. I took soooo many tulip pictures 
Although my mom did as well:
The colors just almost didn’t look real.
I took pictures of the names of the tulips so I could remember them. Orange Princess double late:
Chiquita bordeaux double late:
The coolest tulip EVER!
Obviously a mutation, but so cool. It was hidden with all these yellow ones.
Fancy frills fringe tulips:
Red Georgette multiflora:
Posing:
Maybe next month’s challenge to myself might be working on posture??
As most of you know, I did a 7 day vegetarian challenge. I was a little worried at first about finding something at the fest to eat without resorting to cheese fries or something like that to stay veggie. Well, there were a ton of choices! I ended up at the Turkish booth:
There were some feta cheese filled samosa-type things. Then the sarma (the green things), which were vine leaves stuffed with rice, parsley, onions and spices (actually really good), and then sekerpore. Those are a sweet almond cake soaked in a simple syrup. A good plate. I shared the sekerpore with mom and John because the lady gave me a couple free ones. Maybe I looked hungry?
More flowers. Monte Carlo double early. I think the doubles are also called peony tulips.
Rajke Triumph:
Pink cloud mixed (love these).
Estella parrot:
Another crown imperial
And just some pretty color combos here:
I guess I had better stop! I wasn’t kidding when I said I took a lot of pictures 😀
Flowers make me so happy
I don’t know which one is my favorite. I love purple but the red and white ones are gorgeous! There’s a tulip festival here in Oregon too and I always miss it. 🙁 One day I’ll make it.
I can’t decide either. They are all pretty!
I love tulips! Sadly, they tend to be annuals out here unless one has the fridge space and patience to dig them up every year. Those are some amazing flowers at the festival! I never heard of the Crown Imperials, those are so cool! Glad you all had a nice time.
I like the Estella parrots…very beautiful flowers…I must make the effort to get to ours.
I am so glad you guys decided to take the drive! What beautiful pics! Looks like a wonderful festival! Thank you for sharing!
OH WOW!!!!! Lori, what amazing photos. Thanks so much for sharing!!!! (I agree, that red/yellow split one is the COOLEST tulip ever! I’ve never seen anything like it!!)
Glad you shared a lovely Mother’s Day with your Mom! Have a good dya.
Tulips are one of my favorite flowers! So beautiful!
Thanks for sharing all of those tulips. Seeing those pictures lets me have Spring twice:)
Is it wrong that I kept reading the “double late” as “double latte”? Seems fitting on your blog, lol!
What amazingly gorgeous pictures – just breathtaking. Thanks so much for sharing them!
Haha – we did the same thing with those signs and called them lattes, too! 😀
Ha! I read latte too. Thanks for sharing those great pictures! I don’t have such good luck with tulips, so I tend to stick with the daffodils. I like the pink cloud, and the monte carlo double and the one with the muscari surrounding the dark pink/red single tulips. Unreal.
Absolutely beautiful. Today your blog felt like being home here in Holland.
I’ve said it yesterday but you should definitely visit De Keukenhof. Here’s a link to the website, it’s in English
http://www.keukenhof.nl/en/37/photos-of-the-park.html
Wow – that is so beautiful!
I love tulips but it just doesn’t get cold enough in GA for them. And the squirrels LOVE them. 🙂
Lori, how wonderful that you got to go to that festival – amazing flowers!!!!!!!!!! BEAUTIFUL! Can’t pic cause they are all so pretty. Those fringe ones are cool looking – never seen those before!
What a beautiful flower show! I adore the grape hyacinths, we have them all over our front yard and they spread so there is more and more each year.
Oh my goodness aren’t you so happy that you went?!! Thank you so much for sharing all those gorgeous photos with us.
My Greek friends call that feta cheese triangle a Tyropitakia. If you add spinach to it, it’s Spanakopita. Which reminds me our local Greek church is getting ready to have their spring food festival – yay!
I love tulips! They’re one of my favorite flowers!
Absolutely gorgeous! I was looking at them saying, “oh. OH!” That crown imperial is incredible.I’ve never seenanything like it. The colors are so vibrant on all the flowers. They almost look fake!
Thanks for sharing the pictures. I enjoyed them. 🙂
Just got back from another 16 mile bike ride early this morning ….made a bowl of oatmeal with dried cranberries and chopped pecans, started the coffee pot , put my feet up and ate my oatmeal while visiting your tulip festival. How GREAT is that?? LOL! Thanks for all the pictures and i LOVE the fact you got all the names. Tulips don’t do well here, its not cold enough, long enough…i’d have to dig them up and put them in the frigerator every fall and……thats so not happening…:) You know i don’t think i’ve ever had turkish or indian food for that matter…must try….Looks like you all had a wonderful day.
Nice ride! I guess there is some upside to the really cold and snowy winters here.
Tulips are my favorite flower and you took some gorgeous pictures. Thanks for sharing them with us.
Loved seeing your mom, I haven’t wrote her in ages, I need to. I smiled through all your pictures. I love flowers too they make me happy too. Glad you got to hang out with your mom 🙂 and go to such a beautiful festival.
I’ve never even heard of most of those tulips, they are stunning! I’m glad you all had such a good time, it looks like a fun afternoon was had by all 😉
Absolutely gorgeous!!! Thanks for sharing all your wonderful pictures.
I haven’t been to a tulip festival since going to one in Washington state when I was in high school.