Helicopter Tour Engagement
What started as a fantasy my first summer in AK would eventually turn into a reality a year later, but with a twist.
A one-hour glacier helicopter tour turned out to be a set up for my husband to propose to me; even the pilot was in on the whole thing and captured the special moment.
Alaska Helicopter Tours
My parents visited me every summer of the 3 years I lived there, and the first summer they visited, they booked a dogsledding helicopter tour through Alaska Helicopter Tours out of Palmer, AK. Chris and I went as a support system but were too broke to pay for this excursion at the time. We watched them take off and land in their helicopter, but waited for them at the lodge. While they were off dogsledding, Chris and I talked about how we would absolutely love to do this one day, when we had the means to do it.
The lodge is about an hour from Anchorage in the middle of nowhere in Palmer. There is a bar and restaurant, with pretty decent food, and individual cabins for lodging. My parents raved about their dogsledding adventure and noted how beautiful the helicopter tour was. I was so envious of the sights they got to see, but would remind myself that I HAD to do this before I moved out of the state.
Fast forward just one year later, Chris emailed me a reservation confirmation for a one-night stay at this lodge. I thought this was crazy for two reasons- one being that we had literally just got back from a 2-week trip to New Jersey to visit his family the day before, and two being that he emailed me in the middle of the night. I was so confused and I really didn’t think he was being serious. But as he started to pack an overnight bag, I realized that he was being for real.
I asked what the plans were, and all he said was to pack warm layers. I thought this was odd because the only thing to do is relax in the cabin and go to the bar and restaurant for a nice meal. I obliged, still confused, but went along with it. As we got closer to the lodge, I saw one of the helicopters leave for a tour and looked at it in admiration as it flew away. This is when he said “get ready, because that’s about to be us”. I froze. I did not believe him one bit. I only started to believe him when we were signing the liability waiver and realized “holy shit, he’s being serious”.
I was actually super nervous leading up to the tour. As an anxious thinker, I envisioned the worst. As a slight optimist, I was thrilled and grateful that I would get an opportunity like this, and as a surprise no less! Before I knew it, we were in the air with our headsets on and 360-degree views of the terrain and glaciers under us. We even saw some wildlife!
At the top of the glacier, the pilot landed and we got out to explore with our ice cleats on, seeing the vast crevasses, deep blue waters, and bright white ice. The pilot guided us to a photo spot and had his own camera to take our pictures and send to us after- this is when I started to get suspicious of what was going on. We turned away to get one of those “from behind” shots where we’re looking at the view behind us. From there, Chris dropped down on one knee and said the cutest “will you marry me” speech.
I was in such shock that THIS was our engagement story. I never could have dreamt that this would be how we told people we got engaged for the rest of our lives. After a few minutes of blacking out from excitement, shock, and elation, we popped champagne and had a little picnic with chocolate covered strawberries while sitting on top of a glacier. Like how cool is that?!
It does not escape me at how absolutely grateful I am for this experience. We both got to see parts of the world that only a few get to see. The love and gratitude I have for Chris does not go unnoticed. We shared our story with the company for a “Grand Knik Tour” promotion and won a 2-hour grand experience tour! More on that in a separate post.
