Saturday, June 9, 2012

Up, Up, and Away! (no, not the Disney Channel movie)

Are y'all ready for this exciting news?!? Are you sure, like really really sure you're ready????


I got to ride in a hot air balloon! yahooo!!!!

It was soo much fun. At first I was a little nervous, mostly about my jaw (seeing as just four weeks ago I got jaw surgery.) But boy was I excited. My parents, myself, and friends of ours, Dave & Benita Huntington, went to Debonne Winery here in NE Ohio. They have a big balloon festival every year to sort of jump kick the summer. Well, it turns out that Dave does side work for Debonne's and knows the owner really well. The owner gave him 2 free tickets to take a ride in a hot air balloon, and he gave them to my mom and I to use! Isn't he the nicest? The balloon we went up in was from the company Boo Lou Noodles, and they were such nice people. They even let my dad go up with us, without a ticket. Such a sweet family. We flew about 20 or so minutes before landing at an abandoned farm, the ground crew (two people from Boo Lou Noodles, Kyle and Deb, followed and picked us up.) The take off, ride itself, and landing all went perfectly, so smooth and no trouble at all. It was GREAT! It's hard work to be a hot air balloon pilot. Always having to pack and unpack the balloon/basket. The balloon weighed about 250lbs, and the basket fully loaded is about 4-500lbs! Anyways, enough of the story.. here's some pictures::

getting the balloon prepped and ready for flight


up in the air, flying away

our shadow, reflection in a pond, and celebration wine

Mom, Dad, myself, Kyle, and Pete (Kyle- grounds crew, Pete- our pilot) celebrating post-flight.

post flight, lighting up the balloons (our balloon on the left

This adventure completes #74: Do something out of my comfort zone -check! And, #82: Try something new -check! And, #29- Go to a winery -check! Along with getting started on #100: Meet 5 new people.

life is good

4 comments:

  1. That sounds like SOO much fun!!!!

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    1. it was unbelievable! My parents were worried that if we had a hard landing I'd hurt my jaw -but everything went well, luckily.

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  2. Wahhh! That is crazy! And those pictures are amaaaazing!!!

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    1. thank yas! I was so nervous taking each one thinking I was going to drop my phone the whole time haha

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