April Showers

Thanks to cold, stormy weather the tulips were late this year. But on Wednesday, between rain and wind storms, I made my annual visit to Mount Vernon, starting my ride from the Chuckanut Park & Ride Lot. Somehow I always take the wrong fork coming out of the roundabout after crossing the freeway overpass, and get stuck riding too far north on Hwy. 11. I caught myself early this year though, turned back toward the tulip fields at Cook Road and ended up riding about ten miles on Avon-Allen Road before I caught sight of the tulips. At least I had a nice tailwind. After that I just cruised around and admired the flowers from a distance. I rode about 25 miles total for the day, and somehow managed to keep the gusty winds mostly behind me.

It was about noon when I started though, and the chill, brisk ride made me hungry fast. I'd been craving fish & chips but I was too hungry to spend time looking for a good shop so I headed to my usual stop, the Skagit Food Co-Op.

The deli has a new automated ordering kiosk which I tried for the first time, ordering a half ham & swiss on whole wheat sandwich. I guess I missed some options, though, because I got one bare slice of whole wheat bread, one slice of swiss cheese, and a couple of thin slices of ham. No lettuce, tomatoes, mustard or mayo. I was disappointed, but too hungry to complain. My cafe americano was good at least.

I don't really mind losing cashier or food service jobs to automation, or to younger workers for that matter, but I do wish they did a better job. I can't complain, though, because I'm afraid of being called a Karen.

You can have your choice of weather in April