up in the air

As I mentioned in my previous post, Trevor and I FINALLY were able to go hot air ballooning this past weekend! It was something that neither of us had ever done before, and it was quite the experience. We woke up at the crack of done (4:45am!) and headed over to a winery a few miles away. Hilariously, I ran into Sebrin – a fellow English major at CSUCI (the world is tiny…)!

From there, we all piled into cars and buses which drove us to a large field a few minutes from the meeting point. We turned a corner and BOOM – balloons! While they were inflating them, they let us venture inside the balloon – where we were allowed to take pictures and kill some time before the initial take off.

Once we were finally up in the air, we listened to music and our pilot explained the history of ballooning, and was generous with the champagne. We were able to spend a good 45 minutes up in the air, just taking in the glorious views of the valley. The take off and landing were a lot smoother than I anticipated – and it never really occured to me that all that stood between me and the 1100 feet below us was a basket. We felt safe and secure the entire time.

For future reference, it is NOT necessary to layer up when you go up in a balloon. I was so nervous about the weather, especially since I get cold so easily. I never realized just how warm a hot air balloon (duh) can get – considering they use fire to keep the balloon inflated and up in the air. It was early morning and every single one of us in the basket was taking off our jackets and sweatshirts.

True to form, I put together a little video of the experience. Take a fifteen second balloon ride with us!

Overall, it was a fabulous experience. A HUGE thank you to Trevor for getting me this fabulous experience for Christmas. It was WELL worth the wait!

If anyone has any questions about balloon riding – please don’t hesitate to ask!