BELLINGHAM, Wash. — Flying for the first time is an unforgettable experience. But for Kate Brigham, it was life-changing.
"Once I left the ground, it was just a magical moment. The rest was history," Brigham said.
A pilot for the past 30 years, Brigham is now sharing the skies on a charted tour through Bellingham-based, San Juan Airlines.
"Today we'll be going on a scenic tour of the Tulip Festival down in Skagit Valley," said Brigham. "San Juan Airlines has been providing these tours for decades."
On this tour, how you get there is half the fun.
"It's just about the entire flight from beginning to end. It's not just the tulips," said Brigham. "It's an adventure in itself coming in and flying these airplanes and having that experience."
After a few minutes in the air, the stars of the show start to appear.
"As we enter the valley, you can see this lush green, fertile land that has multiple tulip fields," said Brigham. "Most people when they come to see the tulips, it's usually on foot. But in the air, the air offers a completely different perspective. When you're up high, having a bird's-eye point of view, you can see these blooms, these massive blooms in mass."
"As you look down and see all these individual plots of fields, you kind of think about the individual flowers and the flowers as well as the farms, the farmers. You see all the visitors that come by and you get a sense of this bigger picture of the entire tube community," said Brigham. "Each farm every year, they plant new bulbs, and so they have a new design every year. It's something that people can look forward to seeing - a different layout, different types of tulips and the colors."
Though Brigham has flown the tulip tour many times, she never tires of showing others what's in our own backyard.
“It gives me a chance to really show them and share the things that I love, the beauty of this region, and the Pacific Northwest," she said.
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