We arrived at the Lakewood park at 5:45p.m. and watched them fill the balloon with air using two big fans. Then John, the pilot, turned on the gas and it went upright. The crew had to hold it down while we climbed in. The basket was waist high and felt safe.
Keith brought his camera and took this picture of the lake using his fisheye lens. It was quiet and felt like we were floating, which in fact, we were. We were 1400 feet up. In case that doesn't sound like much, look at this...
high enough for me!
This picture doesn't really show how big the balloon is inside; but you can see the beautiful colors and the flame (light in the middle left). I would guess it was 100 feet high but I'm probably wrong. As we were coming down on the other side of the lake in Maple Grove, we saw this perfect shadow of the balloon on the ground.
John looked for an open field with short grass to land in which brought us to the Pembridge's. (Tom had called me last year regarding piano lessons for someone in his family.) The crew of six met us there. The balloon bumped lightly a few times as we were landing. I think that was the scariest part.
But John is an experienced pilot of over 20 years and knew what he was doing. He said he went to pilot's school to learn how to fly. He got into the business because he thought having a balloon would be good advertisement for his Remax real estate business. People started asking for rides and that was that.
Before we could officially land, the crew had to get permission from Tom which he gladly gave. After the balloon was packed up, which took about 20 minutes, we had a champagne/grape juice toast. John told us the story of the first balloon ride and why they have the traditional toast when landing; something about Paris, France, animals, and aliens. Interesting.
The ride was about 40 minutes long and awesome. It is a memory we will never forget.
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