One thing I’ve been wanting to do for some time is to fly in a hot air balloon. I’m going to quit referring to these things as ‘bucket list’ items for I’m finding that term far too terminating. There shall be time enough for a bucket list decades from now. But I digress. Erin is visiting us for a fortnight while she is tracked out. How pleasant I thought for her to accompany us. So plans were made and off to Bird in Hand we went on a somber Tuesday afternoon. As you will see the balloon went up pretty fast and the pilot had us board while the basket lay on plane until the air in the balloon had heated enough for inflation. In a few minutes we were above 500 feet and I must say there was some trepidation due to rampant brain thoughts. Only about 15 minutes into the ride, rain clouds hovered nearby and started to share their precipitation with the landscape. Our pilot headed for new heights. Climbing to over 7200 feet we ascended through the clouds meeting with a sun missing most of the day. What a glorious sight. After viewing the heavens we descended a few thousand feet to enjoy the remainder of Lancaster county as our airbus drifted southwest toward the Susquehanna River and York county. An hour and a half into the flight it was time to land. Luckily he found a naked spot on the King farm. This Amish family welcomed us with open arms. We engaged in conversation while the team packed the massive chute again. The Kings were the most gracious of hosts and by time to leave we had been invited for a day and dinner with them next week. Packing into the van we left our landing in Conestoga and headed back to our start in Bird in Hand. By nightfall we toasted champagne and paid ‘hail’ to a day well done, an apt pilot, and a crew that made the trip a momentous experience. “Every picture tells a story, don’t it” . I’ll stop and let the slideshow tell the story.
,center>
Larry,
Your photos are fabulous! I have recently been researching art quilts and thinking about starting to do them as a new hobby. I have always thought that the view we see soon after take-off or just before landing would be great for one of these. I have never taken a ride in a hot air balloon, but your photos have inspired me. When I get beyond the research stage and into the sewing stage, I would love to use one of your photos as a pattern. May I?
My best regards to you and your family! Joann
You have just fulfilled one of my dreams……a hot air balloon ride, and I want to do one more than ever. It is even more exciting than I imagined! Lancaster has so much to offer, in beauty, education, and culture, thank I realized. I am on a mission to make it my next vacation! So glad that the three of you had such a wonderful day, plus the bonus of returning in a week for a spectacular dinner! Happy Trails to you all!
Thank you for writing about this. There’s a bunch of solid tech info on the internet. You’ve got a lot of that info here on your site. I’m impressed – I try to keep a couple blogs fairly on-going, but it’s a struggle sometimes. You’ve done a solid job with this one. How do you do it?
WOW! The photos are fantastic (as usual). Hope you don’t don’t mind but I copied a few of them here to save for myself … actually using one as a screen saver.
Interesting Article. Hoping that you will continue posting an article having a useful information. Thanks a lot!