Kenmore Airlines to Camp Orkila
As far as I know there’s no law forcing us to do it, but for some reason it seems like all Mercer Island fathers enroll in the Y-Guides program of the Lake Heights Family YMCA, a highlight of which is when we dutifully schlepp our kids to Camp Orkila, in the San Juan Islands each October. Usually they try to schedule it on a cold and rainy weekend, but this year it was absolutely beautiful.
The fathers in my tribe were too busy at work to take the 4+ hour trip via ferry, so instead we did something different: we flew on the Northwest’s own Kenmore Airlines, which has a fleet of seaplanes that take off from Lake Union. I can’t believe I haven’t done this before! Instead of a long, roundabout drive up I-5 and over a ferry, we were at our destination in only 40 minutes.
The prices are pretty reasonable, considering the time saved. For about $100/person each way, we saved about a day of our weekend in travel time. The plane literally landed us right on the beach of Camp Orkila.
Getting there is half the fun, of course. Nothing like flying around the Space Needle in 9-seater airplane.
Embedded content from flickr.comI haven’t had this much fun in the air since last year when a friend took us up in his private plane and we flew over Mercer Island.
