Surprise Birthday Present

 What a thrill!!!!!!

Lavena and Tucker brought a box all decorated.  When I opened it -out floated a balloon with a little wicker basket attached!

Lavena  had two tickets for the Great Falls Balloon Festival to ride with Frank Bart the pilot. 

Lavena has been telling me that she had a surprise birthday present for me.  She said I would have to sign a waiver, dress in layers and get up at 3:00am on Sunday Aug 19th.    She also told me that it would be exhilarating and colorful.  That is all she would tell me.  

Notice it is still dark out and a little over cast.

Check out the basked-  it really is wicker and can hold 7 people.  

This has been a dream of mine for a long time.  She has been planning it for several months and it is the first time she has been able to keep a secret.   And what a secret it was.  So exciting!!!!!!!!!!!   

Our pilot is getting in to set up the burners and fuel tanks.

The fan start to fill the balloon until they can start the burner.  It is amazing that the ropes and fabric don't catch on fire.  

The flame goes about 10 feet up inside the balloon.

There were at least 16 balloons flying on Sunday.   It is before 6:00 in the morning.  The sky started to clear and the day was absolutely beautiful.

People hold the balloon down until the riders get in and they fire up the burner.  You would never know you are leaving the ground it is so calm and peaceful.  You must try it!!!

This is our ride.  It landed in a golf course- they exchanged fuel tanks and we got in.   Tucker was only a few feet away and was taking pictures.  

This is what the inside looks like - notice the smily face at the top.  You can also see the flame.  

Our shadow as we take off.  

There we are!  This was so exciting and not frightening at all.  Notice that we have one arm around the up right pole.  There were 5 people in here and we could have had 7.   The man in control has a commercial pilot's license and has been flying 26 years.   He said that this was rated as a 10 flight one of his best ones.  The sky was perfectly clear and it was a mild temperature.     

Notice the shape of the basket.

The only noise was when the burner started up and that was quite loud, but for the most part it was absolutely quiet and peaceful.  I could have stayed up there all day and night.
These are some of our sights.  We took over 300 pictures between Tucker, Lavena and me.  

Notice our shadow on this balloon

We were looking for a moose

Our shadow as we were landing at a horse farm.   You would not even know you had landed it was so perfect. 

We could see the ocean 

This is our pilot.  He said that after he went for his first ride the second ride was in his own balloon and he has flown ever since - 26 years.  

So sad to see all the air out, but it was an awesome ride. 

such a fun adventure
Thank you so much Lavena and Tucker