We’ve seen Seattle and its surrounding suburbs (Issaquah, Sammamish, Woodinville) by land – hiking many, many trails around lakes, up mountains, through the city, and along the waterfront. We’ve seen parts of this area by sea – enjoying an Argosy boat tour, or a sailboat ride through Puget Sound, or kayaking off Alki beach or Lake Union. We’ve even seen these sights by air – traveling back to Seattle from Chicago, New York, L.A. But a commercial flight over the PacWest is not the same as…a helicopter tour.

My darling husband surprised me on my birthday by taking me on one such helicopter tour.

Seattle Helitours (flown by Classic Helicopter Corp.) offer three great tours of this area. We opted for the 45 minute tour which took us out over Seward Park…

to our ultimate destination of Snoqualmie Falls…

back over Bellevue and then above Lake Washington…

over Husky Stadium and the University district…

past Green Lake…

above the Ballard Locks…

and, saving the best for last, past the Space Needle and the City’s waterfront.

Our pilot, Jeff, was fantastic. The ride was extremely smooth and even though we encountered some rain near Snoqualmie Falls, Jeff handled the weather conditions perfectly. He even flew us under a rainbow – how often do you get the chance to do that?

The views were quite simply – insane. And from take off to landing, it was a perfect way to see Seattle.

Come along for the best part of the ride – via this video: