A bouquet of ideas for pre- and post-tulip fest tours

It's no mystery what's the top attraction of the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival.

Commercial growers farm more than 1,000 acres of flowers in the valley, and when in full bloom, it's a territorial quilt of dazzling reds, yellows and pinks.

You can see most of them in a half-hour drive or a half-day of biking on the straight, flat roads that crisscross fertile fields. So what do you do before and after?

The Skagit Valley was where I first got paid to be a journalist, 30 years ago, and it was the start of a love affair with the place that hasn't ended. I took a spin around the valley recently and came up with this list of top stops at tulip time:

1. A breakfast stop

Calico Cupboard is a longtime Skagit County fixture, with restaurants in Mount Vernon, La Conner and Anacortes. My favorite is the La Conner cafe, where some tables offer views of the Swinomish Channel and Rainbow Bridge. But generous breakfasts and hefty cinnamon rolls are the main draw (motto on the wall: "Only eat what you can lift"). Farmhouse-style wooden tables with mismatched chairs from the last century make the place homey, as you scarf down the Waffle of the Day with fresh fruit ($7.99) or Skagit Hash, with a farm-truck haul of fresh broccoli, tomato, spinach, mushrooms, red onion, garlic, red pepper and feta cheese tossed with red potatoes ($9.49). Lots of omelets, hot cakes and other breakfast standards. Downside: Expect crowds on weekends.

720 S. First St., La Conner; 360-466-4451.

2. An art stop

The classy Museum of Northwest Art in La Conner is a spinoff of the town's past as home to Northwest School artists such as Guy Anderson and Mark Tobey. Through June 14, it's hosting "Finds Refined," a fun and unusual show featuring 15 Northwest artists' creations made from found objects and material. The giant cardboard bust of Geronimo will catch your eye as you enter, but don't miss the details of Guemes Island artist Allen Moe's pottery encased in lacquered layers of such material as real anchovies (from San Francisco Bay, not from a can) or gopher-snake vertebrae "from Highway 14, Mariposa County, Calif." Yes, it's roadkill as art. (It's not half as off-putting as it sounds. Really.)

121 S. First St., La Conner. $2-$5; Tuesday-Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday and Monday, noon to 5 p.m. 360-466-4446 or www.museumofnwart.org.

3. A crafts stop

Up the hill, the historic Gaches Mansion is home to the La Conner Quilt & Textile Museum. How many rooms display quilts? "All of them, even the bathroom!" said volunteer K.C. Murray. The top floors host changing exhibits. This month: Sheila Groman's contemporary fiber art including colorful nature scenes, and "Birdscapes" with art quilts by Alaskan Karin Franzen. If quilts don't make you all warm and fuzzy, just enjoy poking around the three floors of the 1891 mansion, with its narrow flight of servant stairs paralleling the main staircase. Climb up to the turret's top for eagle-eye views. More quilts: All month, Fidalgo Island Quilters stage their Quilt Walk, displaying more than 300 quilts and garments in 50 locations throughout downtown Anacortes.

Quilt Museum, 703 S. Second St., La Conner. $5; under 12 free with paying adult. April hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. 360-466-4288 or www.laconnerquilts.com. Anacortes Quilt Walk info: fidalgoislandquilters.com. Studio tour April 18, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

4. A shopping stop

La Conner's First Street is a long strip of gift shops, galleries and local boutiques. Dawdle as you please, but don't miss The Wood Merchant, a showplace of custom furniture and woodcraft displaying the works of 250 woodworkers, 80 percent of whom are local. Test rock the Brendan Rocker designed and handcrafted by Bellinghamster Greg Aånes (and named for his son, who got rocked in the prototype). Saturday, see a demonstration by Camano Island watercolorist John Ebner.

709 S. First St., La Conner. 360-466-4741 or www.woodmerchant.com.

5. A brew-pub stop:

Across the valley in downtown Mount Vernon, the Skagit River Brewery has a cozy brew pub in the historic Pacific Fruit and Produce warehouse. Walk in and the wood-fired pizza oven gives the place that smoky-good stay-awhile feel, augmented by weathered wood floors and brick walls. Nothing fancy, just cold beer (made on premises), friendly folks and a great menu. Examples: Oven-roasted chicken burger with caramelized onions, Cheddar jack, lettuce and tomato, $8.99 with a side of red-potato salad. Wood-fired pizza, $10.99, such as the Padilla Bay, with prosciutto, feta, rosemary and fresh tomatoes. Enjoy it with a Dutch Girl Lager or a Trumpeter Stout.

404 S. Third St., Mount Vernon. 360-336-2884 or www.skagitbrew.com.

6. A book stop

Mount Vernon teachers Charles Easton and Dave Cornelius started their used-book shop 34 years ago, and today Easton's Books offers more than 80,000 volumes of used, out-of-print and collectible volumes from its downtown shopfront. "You can find anything, from a cookbook to a book on how to weld," said employee Leslie Krous.

701 S. First St., Mount Vernon. 360-336-2066 or www.eastonsbooks.com.

7. A bird-watching stop

Meander northward past the tiny burg of Bay View to Breazeale Interpretive Center at Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. After a gander at the educational exhibits — learn why eelgrass matters — stroll out to the viewing tower overlooking the bay and see how many bald eagles you count in the treetops.

10441 Bayview-Edison Road. 360-428-1558 or www.padillabay.gov.

8. A bakery stop

Continue northward to the village of Edison ("Est. 1869") to pick up a fresh-baked loaf from Breadfarm, a family-owned artisan bakery where you'll usually find the dedicated young crew punching dough at a big table behind a display counter filled with golden-crusted delights. Samish River Potato Bread ($5) is the specialty, made from organic spuds from Frog's Song Farm on Fir Island. They deliver hundreds of fresh loaves daily throughout Whatcom and Skagit counties. "Right now, there's someone in back making 500 bread bowls for Mount Baker Ski Area," dough-wrangler Sarah Phillips said when I visited.

5766 Cain's Court, Edison. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. daily. 360-766-4065 or

www.breadfarm.com.

9. A snack stop

Rexville Grocery, a lonely outpost on the road from Conway to La Conner, around the corner from the historic Rexville Grange Hall (now a gallery), is a step back to the day of roadhouses and country stores, but with a foodie-pleasing twist. Genial proprietor Joyce Welch will pull you a draft microbrew to sip at her tiny lunch counter, next to the big tank of live oysters, or you can sit in the cafe for a sandwich such as the Rex Club (turkey, bacon, cheese, lettuce and tomato, on Breadfarm bread, $7). Or pick up fixings for a picnic. There's a selection of fine wines and a shelf of 58 hot sauces, from "Scorned Woman" to "Sharkbite."

19721 Best Road, a quarter-mile northwest of the North Fork Skagit River bridge. 360-466-5522 or www.rexvillegrocery.com.

Brian J. Cantwell: 206-748-5724 or bcantwell@seattletimes.com