Kenmore Air ROCKS!

Mike's birthday, Saturday, the 18th. The plan: Fly out at 8:30am from Kenmore Air in Kenmore, Washington to Inner Harbor, Victoria, British Columbia, walk about the Inner Harbor area, have Mike’s birthday lunch, fly back to Kenmore and get home around 6:00pm.

But not all plans go as planned...

We got to Kenmore Air right after 8:00 and we were ready to fly. We’d been watching the weather on weather.com, saw blue in the sky and were hoping for no fog to derail our plans. But alas, there was lots of fog in Victoria. So at around 9:00 our pilot, Chris, advised we’d fly into Kenmore Air’s Lake Union (downtown Seattle) seaport, hang out and see if the fog lifted. No problem, we said.


We’re ready to board our Otter with just the 3 of us!

And so began the flight of a lifetime. I have seen Seattle from cars, motorcycles, boats, trains and jets. Yesterday I was treated to the view from a seaplane and it was incredible - my hometown passing below me. It’s almost too difficult to describe – and it was surprisingly very emotional for me. My smile went from ear-to-ear and my face hurt from smiling so hard. And Mike? He looked like a little kid, so full of excitement and happiness.


Birthday Boy Mike sat next to Chris in the co-pilot seat.


Chris.


The plane has 8 seats + the pilot and co-pilot seats.




It’s a short flight to Lake Union and soon enough the Seattle skyline was in view.


There was no wind and the flight was calm and the landing smooth. This is the pontoon gliding onto the water.

Inside the small Lake Union airport we found other passengers waiting out the fog. By 9:15 we were told that it was still too foggy in Victoria to leave Seattle and that they were pushing the fight out to 11:30 – if we wanted to try to wait it out. Hell yeah. We’d wait. So we got a latte and mocha and walked around the lake’s waterfront.


We ended up at the Center for Wooden Boats and checked out all of the boats. Mike also found that there are volunteer opportunities there – something he might be interested in doing.

We were back at the airport by 11:00 and found that a decision had not yet been made about Victoria. We hung out with Chris (who was also waiting to find out if he was piloting any other flights) and had a great time learning more about his life as a pilot and a boat captain. Around 11:15 we were advised that it was still too foggy to go and that the next possible flight would be around 1:00. With that info, we cancelled our day trip to Victoria, and decided we would try it another day.

So now what? Well, we needed to get back to Kenmore Air where our truck was parked. And Kenmore Air had a plan...that’s when we met pilot #2, Michael. Michael was to fly us back to Kenmore. But since Mike’s birthday plans had been sabotaged, Michael took us on a tour of Puget Sound!


This time our ride was on a smaller plane, a Beaver.


And again, Mike got the co-pilot’s seat.


Michael.


This plane has just 4 seats + the pilot and co-pilot’s seats.


By now the sun was out and we saw Puget Sound's many islands and land masses.


Here is Mt. Rainier at over 14,000 feet.


And Alki Point in West Seattle. I finally understand why it was named Alki Point.




Sailboats and cruise ships.


The Space Needle and Lake Union.


Elliott Bay, downtown and Lake Washington.




Floating bridges, Highway 520 and Interstate 90.


Looking back at the city and the Olympic Mountains to the west.


Home at Kenmore Air.

THANK YOU KENMORE AIR!!! We had a blast and someday soon we’ll make that longer trip to Victoria. More about the rest of his special day to come...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MIKE!