Bellingham and Whidbey Island Walking Festivals
Northwest Tulip Trekkers September walk and bike events
By Elizabeth Rose, http://volks-ware.com
If you love walking and can get to northwest Washington, you’ll be interested in the Tulip Trekker’s September walking weekends. Every year the club puts on a public walking festival. In odd years, look for the Bellingham, WA events and in even years take a ferry to Whidbey Island, WA for the walking festival.
Events are low cost… a maximum of $3.00 per walk. And, if you choose, you can walk for free. Of course you will have opportunities to part with some of your hard earned money. There are usually vendors selling the latest walking items and if you want to get more involved in a self-paced walking sport, you can purchase a New Walker Packet.
This non-profit walking club believes in fun, fitness and friendship… and food! Walkers of all abilities and ages can find a walk route to suit them. I recently participated in the Bellingham events. One of my favorite walks was 10 kilometers in length and took us through the fun and funky downtown and along the beautiful bay. We stopped for coffee and joined boaters as they started their day. You see, these events are self-paced so you can stop as often as you wish.
At a check point along the boat basin trail, friendly volunteers stamped our registration cards and offered water and cheerful conversation. Soon we were off again, retracing our steps and then heading up another street and then through a stream habitat. Imagine our surprise as we looked down and saw salmon swimming upstream to spawn. The large fish in the fairly shallow stream were amazing to watch.
We finished the walk and spent some time talking with walking friends we had not seen for awhile. And, of course, we enjoyed the vegetables, nuts and sweets the club shared with us.
More food! Later that evening we were treated to a salmon dinner with all the trimmings. At the price of $18 per person, the dinner was quite a bargain. The club added a fun touch by providing tickets for door prizes. It was a great way to meet new people and decide which walk route we wanted to do the next day. The consensus was that the new lake route was well worth a try.
As we ended our walking weekend, the discussion turned to plans for the next year in Coupeville, WA on Whidbey Island. The club was planning some new routes and had ides for new social events. We left the event vowing to return the next year and join them for the Whidbey Island events.
