Ballooning: Not Just for the Aristocracy Anymore
Wow. It bears repeating. WOW.
Prince Charming and I finally went on the much-anticipated and oft-canceled balloon ride this weekend. It rocked!
We were in the biggest balloon east of the Mississippi River, Florida to Canada. There were 13 of us in the balloon, 12 passengers and 1 pilot. AND IT ROCKED!
Both the Prince and I were a bit...skeptical/queasy at first, but we forged ahead. I am glad that we did. Our pilot's name was "Don" and he totally made the experience wonderful. We left a municipal airport sometime around 6:00 p.m. and floated over field, interstate, housing developments, shopping centers, wood, and farms.
It was exhilarating. It was amazing. It was both exciting and peaceful, thrilling and serene. The view was spectacular and the sensation of floating above the earth was surreal. Taking off was amazing because we rose so high so fast and the airport began to disappear. The view was breathtaking. I snapped lots of pics and ran out of film way too early.
Of course, hot-air balloons are regulated by the FAA, so they have to comply with those sorts of things. And, since we were flying around Dane County Airport aka Madison International, this added another layer of excitement. The pilot had a radio in the basket so that he could communicate with the tower if necessary. At one point in our flight, I heard the following come over the radio, "Attention United Flight Four-Three-Niner, (flt# fictionalized), be advised there is a hot air balloon somewhere in your flight pattern. We don't know exactly where."
How cool is that? Except of course, if it comes to a game of chicken, we are definately not going to win.
Landing was super-cool. The pilot said, "Sometimes you come in like a cream puff, other times it is more exciting." I guess our landing was of the exciting variety. The pilot had us all turn away from the direction of travel, bend our knees, and hold onto the straps in a under-handed fashion. The basket touched down with a jolt, then took off again, though with the basket tilted back (our backs toward ground, eyes toward sky). Aloft again, but just barely, we traveled another 15-20 feet before we jolted again, this time we tilted more toward earth, getting closer to horizontal. Once more aloft, we traveled another 20-25 feet before sliding into home plate, basket on its side, and all of us looking up to the sky, backs to the ground, though still very much in the basket. Then we had to wait in this position until it was safe to get out of the basket (we had lost enough buoyancy to de-basket).
Then we packed everything up and headed back to the balloonport for champagne and nibbles. Great fun!
I would totally do it again. I highly recommend it! It may take you a number of tries to get out there, but it is totally worth it. Prince and I have been scheduling and getting canceled for two years. But, if the weather isn't fit, they don't fly.
Even so, this is a sport not just for the aristocracy anymore.
