On Friday, my dad, Caitlyn and I had a wonderful opportunity to go up in a hot-air balloon. This was the kick-off event for the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, and balloons took off from schools all around town.
How did we get here? Well, let me back up. This summer, Oak Grove held a Silent Auction/Fundraiser event. This balloon ride was an item up for bid. I got in a bidding war with another person, and in the end, I had the winning bid. (Partly, because I was stalking the bid sheet, and giving dirty looks to anyone who might attempt to outbid me.) Dad and I decided this was going to be our thing. My sweet husband took me on a hot-air balloon ride on our honeymoon 11 years ago and vowed never to do it again. I knew he must really love me to do this, since he is afraid of heights.
The pilot of our balloon "Sky Draggin" was kind enough to allow me to bring my adventure seeking daughter, Caitlyn for the ride of her life thus far. I think it's funny that my dad is over 60 and this was his first flight, and Caitlyn, at 7 has already had this awesome experience.
So we got up at the "butt-crack" and went to Northstar Elementary. It was a thrill to have all these kids screaming and waving at us as we lifted up off the ground. Our ride took us over the Sandia Reservation. Albuquerque looks beautiful, calm and diverse from 1000 feet off the ground. The river valley was green,blue mountains and brown landscape all added to the beauty. It was fun to try to locate familiar landmarks. We saw our neighborhood, dad's new shop, downtown, Sandia Resort, Placitas, the Railrunner train, volcanoes way out west, and almost to Santa Fe.
Our pilot, Buzz, told us that he didn't want to land on the Res because our crew wouldn't be able to get on and we'd have to call the Indian police to be escorted off. When we landed we just barely made it to the other side of the Sandia boundary If you look closely in one of the photos you can see the fence just a stone's throw from where we landed. There was very little wind and so we ended up just "sitting" up there for a very long time. Which was totally okay with us. We were in no hurry to get down. (Buzz probably felt differently. By the time we landed, the fuel was very low.) Most flights are about 20-40 minutes; ours was about an hour and a half. The landing in and of itself was quite impressive. Buzz brought us down very smoothly in the middle of a cactus-filled landscape.
It was really neat to see how the crew works together to make a flight take place. It takes a lot of people to see these balloons safely off the earth, and safely back again. The crew initiated us by having us help deflate the balloon (quite a job!), a champagne toast, and certificate, and signing the official Balloon Fiesta banner that hangs on the gondola.
I think my favorite part of this whole experience was taking my dad. He kept saying how this was one of the highlights of his life. I could tell he was diggin' the whole experience. I love that it was a memory made for the books and we shared it together!
