my experience of a lifetime!

 I had decided that I was going to do something extravagant for my 30th birthday.  It's that big birthday that I just felt I wanted to do something so far out of the ordinary to celebrate --- I thought and thought and thought about it and decided I was going to go on a hot air balloon ride.  It was something I'd always thought would be a really amazing experience and it was also a little bit out of my comfort zone.  It was decided....and then I found out that you cannot be pregnant and go up in the balloon (the landing can be rough).  SOOOOOOOO I then decided that I would go the next year for my GOLDEN birthday!  So this August I turned 31 on the 31st and couldn't wait for my experience.  I had called around to a few different companies that I found that offered balloon rides - they were all pretty comparable so I selected the one closest to our house (and that had the prettiest balloon on their website:).  I couldn't wait... and I really hoped for the right weather - the balloon lady warned me that the weather had to be appropriate for ballooning which meant not too much wind, but not too little wind, and not too much change in the speed or direction of the wind, it also meant no rain within 8 miles (or something close to that) and no expected rain or prediction of rain....and the list went on.  I woke up on my birthday and was worried - it wasn't the perfect sunny, beautiful day that I was hoping for, but I remained optimistic.  I was instructed to call the lady at 4pm on my birthday to see if we could go and when I called she said it's very overcast, but the wind was okay and there was no rain within the limit so we could go, but it wouldn't be quite as breathtaking as it could be so it was up to me.  I really wanted to go so I said let's do it....and I'm SO glad I did.  We started driving toward Cedar Rapids and called the lady to figure just where to meet her when we were about half way there.  She gave us instructions and with just a couple wrong turns we finally got there right on time.  I was thrilled.  I had asked my parents to drive down with us -- I really wanted my boys (and my parents) to see us take off and watch us up in the air! 

The balloon lady told me that the process of getting the balloon ready was a neat experience to watch and she was right!  It was amazing to see how tightly they had the balloon rolled up into one bag (I would say about the size of a big bean bag chair) and stretch it out super long and then light the fire to blow it up.  The workers were so nice and the kids were good about watching. They were given the okay to go up and touch the balloon as it was blowing up.  Wow.

Once the balloon was ready, we were instructed to get in -- this was the one and only point in the whole deal that I was scared, and I will admit I looked at my dad and said, "maybe I don't want to do this."  Holy cow that balloon is HUGE and VERY intimidating.  But Mark and I got in the balloon together and pretty quickly started going ...up ... up... and AWAY!  And it was INCREDIBLE from the minute we started moving. It felt like the world was dropping rather than us going up.  It was beautiful; it was breathtaking.   

The pilot was a very nice older lady who just absolutely loves ballooning.  She was excited to tell us lots of different stories, point out different neat things to see from up high, and encouraged us to  soak it all in.  She's been flying for something like 28 years and flies every single day the weather allows!! but after our trip, I can see why.  WOW. I think the most fun part of the flight was being able to talk back and forth with the people on the ground.  We could understand them and they could hear us too!  We got lots of people calling out "hi" to us or "I like your balloon"  We took off with another balloon - actually the other company out of Cedar Rapids - they often fly together she said!  It was really pretty to watch their balloon behind us the whole way - sometimes we were higher than them and other times they were higher than us.  Very cool.

After being up in the air about an hour and 15 minutes she said it was time to find a place to land.  It is crazy to think that they have no clue where they will end up and do not have the landing spot picked out ahead of time.  She did tell us that they have an idea of where it could be and have lots of spots that they have used several times.  We ended up landing in an empty lot right in the middle of a housing addition in Hiawatha.  Our land was very smooth and I was so disappointed it was over.  It truly was the experience of a lifetime - an experience that I think every one in the world should go on.  

We were able to call my parents from the balloon way up in the sky to let them know what direction we were headed and then again as we were about to land.  They made it to us just as we were landing!  The boys had lots of fun helping take the balloon down!  All the workers were so family friendly!  The boys were thrilled when they told them they could get in the basket - which you see in the picture below - it has the 3 tanks of gas in it that were used to keep us going! There were two chase cars that followed us around (one with a balloon trailer in the back that said something like "this vehicle is a balloon follower, the driver is often indecisive and makes quick turns at the last minute, look up" or something like that it was funny.  After the balloon was all put away it was time for a champagne toast to celebrate the ride - an age old tradition in ballooning.  We really didn't know what was going on, but they had us kneel for a prayer and all be in a group before the toast and little did we know that at the end of the toast they poured the champagne over our heads in celebration!  It was a really cool to complete the experience.

Like I said before, it was an experience of a lifetime.  I really hope that you will figure out a way to go on your own balloon ride one day.  I sure hope I get to do it again someday!