When we asked Lisa what she wanted to do to celebrate her graduation from high school, the one thing she immediately responded was, "ride in a hot air balloon!"
So, we got her a gift certificate for her graduation. But, with a trip to Japan, a family reunion, etc., by the time we tried to schedule it, they were booked up until October 11. Fortunately, that weekend worked out well, since she was planning to come back to Boise for a friend's mission farewell anyway.
So, bright and early that Saturday morning, we picked up Dad / Grandpa and headed to the fairgrounds.
Here are a few photos of Lisa's adventure.
Waiting to check in.
A balloon really doesn't make a very big package when it's all folded up.
Starting to inflate!
At first we didn't know which balloon we'd be on, so we took photos with this one. As it turns out, we actually flew on the black, yellow, pink, and green one you see in the background. It's name is "Desert Rose."
Getting there...
Once the balloon is mostly inflated with normal, cool air using fans, they fire up the burners to heat the air, and the balloon slowly lifts itself up.
Lisa is excited!
Almost ready to board.
In the basket, ready for liftoff!
Unfortunately, we were on the opposite side of the basket from Grandpa, so we didn't get to talk to him during the flight. He was on the side that was facing our flight direction, so he got to see where we were going, while Lisa and Daniel and I got to see where we'd been.
Looking up into the envelope.
Our pilot.
Eight balloons took off. We were the last to leave the ground. The weather wasn't great -- cloudy and hazy. We would have gotten better photos with blue skies and clear air. But it was still really cool.
Flying in a balloon is very different from flying in an airplane. It is quiet (silent except when the burners are firing), with no wind or sense of movement. Things on the ground just kind of get smaller and smaller, and the next thing you know you're a couple hundred feet up. It's kind of like the classic moving Powers of 10, where the point of view just slowly pulls away.
The Goddard chuch building. In the background you can see the buildings around St. Lukes Meridian.
Looking toward downtown.
Looking south. The brown patch to the right of the balloon is the gravel pits, now turned into the wetlands park, that's across the canal from Mom and Dad's (Grandma and Grandpa's) house.
Here is a closer view. This is looking straight down Dalton. Some of those trees are in their yard, but I'm not sure I can pick out exactly which ones.
This one is looking at the neighborhood we used to live in. I can pick out some of our (ex) neighbors' houses, including two that were right across the street, but can't see the one we used to live in. As you can tell from the angles, we didn't get up very high -- probably never more than about 300 feet -- and most of the time we were probably not more than 100 feet up. We could have seen more if we'd gotten higher.
Crossing the Boise River.
Balloon selfie. In hindsight, I should have fired the flash...
More scenicness.
Grandpa is enjoying the ride.
It's an interesting perspective looking straight down on things.
It was fun watching the other balloons, from their own vantage point.
Lisa and Daniel enjoyed the ride very much.
From this perspective, Boise does look like the City of Trees.
Hewlett-Packard, with Centennial High School behind it, and the Meridan water tower in the distance. Our house might be in this photo, but you can't tell where among all the trees.
Dad / Grandpa admiring the view.
Yumiko followed along in the car.
Sadly, all good things must come to an end. The pilot attempted to land about 45 minutes after takeoff, but the wind didn't cooperate, and we didn't quite get over the fence he wanted to, so we went back up and on for a while longer. Which was nice -- I would have liked to go longer. We floated across the gravel pits, and aimed for the parking lot that's on the upper left of this view.
And finally we approached the landing site with the waiting chase vehicles. We bumped into the tree to the right of Yumiko's car, then touched down very gently in the field beyond.
It was a lot of fun. Happy graduation, Lisa!
