Up, up and away!!!!!!

So my amazing weekend continued...

Having already been down to witness the hot air balloons on Saturday night and Sunday morning, Chris was like a kid in a candy store, insisting we go Sunday evening for their night flight. I wasn't overly enthused, I'll admit. Thinking if there were dozens of pretty balloons I'd be so much more impressed. He'd already shown me some fabulous photos he'd taken of those that would be taking off. There were 4. Selfishly, I was sorta tired, and wanted to go home. However, he was the driver, so after he took some pics of Tanya and after we had a lovely visit with the Masons, we headed to the Crapaud field.

The trucks were lined up waiting for the next run. The mosquitos were absolutely INSANE there. Queue Cranky Amber. I'm in a hot car waiting for something I have no idea if I'll even enjoy. I'm not prepared for warding off bugs. I'm in my flip flops and don't have a coat. We don't have bug spray. I'm anticipating hours of being inside the car because I'm trying to avoid being eaten alive while he's out shooting photos. And I'm tired.

One of the pilots knocks on Chris' window to let him know that the wind has changed, and the take off is going to be out of Hunter River instead. 1o billion mosquitos pile inside the vehicle in search of unsuspecting flesh (ok possibly not that many; 5 billion?). So we follow - I'm still not overly impressed, but I do have a glimmer of hope as I envision the possibility of having a pee and perchance, the purchase of some bug spray. We went to the Hunter River Irving, shooing mosquitos as we traveled, and found our refuge in a tiny bottle of Muskol.

We got to the field for the lift off. The crews unloaded the gear and unfolded the balloons, and one started to fill. As I watched the balloon take shape and the utter enormity of the balloon in scale of everything else in my surroundings, I then started getting impressed. Yeah. It was pretty cool. The pilot that Chris had followed out (he'd been part of the ground crew earlier in the day - holding onto the restraints as the balloon filled) came over to me, handed me a pair of gloves and said she was going to put me to work. I helped keep the mouth of the balloon steady as the air was forced in. In no time, it was filled, and we all were asked to use our weight to keep the basket down on the ground. She asked Chris if he wanted to go up. Her basket was the smallest there -- room for only herself and one passenger.

When you go up on a balloon, you are moving with the wind. The crew on the land have GPS systems and they 'chase' the balloon to help with the landing and to pick up the pilot and passengers. We had taken Chris' car there. His car is a standard, and because I can't drive a stick, he declined, knowing he'd have to be the chaser,...but then quickly volunteered me to go up in his place (he was SUPER jealous, but was happy that one of us at least had the chance to go).

I'm terrified of heights, so for a brief moment had a thought cross my mind of, "Wow, can I really do this?". With hot air balloons you don't have a lot of time for large discussions -- so without much further thought, and more of a, "Wow how can I NOT do this??", I climbed into the basket and off we went. It was spectacular. Amazing. Incredible!

Here are a few shots I took with Chris' G11 point & shoot. I was one-handed -- having to ensure one hand was always on the balloon. Funny thing with those things ...there's no seatbelt. There's no harness... and this particular basket wasn't overly tall. I would have felt a lot more safe had it been about a foot higher in height (that surely would have made the climb in and out that much more entertaining to observers, too, no doubt).

So yeah. I flew in a hot air balloon over picturesque PEI. And it was amazing. It's as good a task as any to have added to your bucket list. And I get to cross it off mine. :)