Saturday, December 31, 2011

Balloon Ride

Wow, the end of 2011 already. We did a park bus tour of Holiday Lights in Phoenix. The lights were fabulous, but the most fun was on the bus and a delicious dinner at a local cafe. On Christmas Day we had dinner with many friends and what a spread it was - no one left hungry !

We have finally turned the corner on weather. It is now sunny and warm like it is supposed to be! We have had enough rain and cold for this winter. On a beautiful calm, sunny day we went on a balloon ride. It was awesome!

The guys all had to help get the balloon ready. It sure looks big on the ground.
Then at sunrise we were up, up and away!


We rose to over 5000' and then the sky divers jumped out of the balloon basket. That was exciting watching them fall so quickly and from above it looked like they would hit the ground for sure before opening their parachutes.


There was absolutely no wind so we just floated without moving much. Lots of fields with a hill here and there. Quite a system of canals from two rivers that converge here. It is easy to see how dust storms start here with so many dirt fields with a few areas of housing. This is where we live from up above.
We then headed just across the street from where we launched at a sky diving airport to land in the open desert. At ground level there was a little wind so we did a few bounces before stopping. Then we all quickly exited and 13 skydivers were there to load up and take off again.

We plan on going to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta next October and we may just have to go on a balloon ride again! It was so much fun and except for the burners, it is so quiet up there just floating along.

Now we are in full swing for January activities and committees. More to come!

1 comment:

The 2 Loons said...

Love the pictures, have always wanted to do that. But scared of heights.