American Tourist Saves Thousands, Traffic Jams Interstate For Flowers Instead
KEY POINTS
- •Bernadette Rankin visited the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival in Washington in 2024 to avoid the cost and timing of traveling to the Netherlands.
- •She paid $15 plus tax for admission at RoozenGaarde, the largest participating farm with about 200 tulip types, and did not visit the other three smaller farms.
- •Rankin enjoyed the patchwork of brightly colored tulip fields and a wooden Dutch windmill replica, fully immersing herself in the festival that runs a month each year.
Bernadette Rankin, apparently allergic to European airfare, swapped the Netherlands for Northwest Washington's Skagit Valley Tulip Festival in 2024, dropping a mere $15 plus tax for a no re-entry RoozenGaarde ticket. This farm boasts 200 tulip types, perfectly curated behind green hedges like a floral fortress for $12–$23. She swore off the other three farms, all charging nearly the same fee, so she marathoned tulip gazing alone. She 'slowed her excited rush,' examining petals with the intensity of a forensic botanist and admired a wooden Dutch windmill counterfeit standing proudly before her very American tulip patchwork quilt. Flowers beat European borders — and flights — any day.
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(1 of 3)When your international travel budget screams no, but $15 unlimited tulip-daydreaming says yes. America, where blocking highways for flowers makes sense.
Why pay for Europe when you can freeze your butt off in Washington surrounded by flowers and very confused tourists?
Nothing screams tourism savvy like spending a third of a flight on one farm’s tulips and calling it a month-long festival.
Source: Businessinsider | Published: 3/27/2026 | Author: Bernadette Rankin
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