Up, Up and Away--Our Balloon Adventure!

When Steve and Angela came down, we went to the Red Rock Balloon Rally.  We knew that Susan had never been in a hot air balloon, and we also knew that all the other kids had.  We went to the Balloon Glow in the Mall parking lot that night (Susan was working at the Santa Set inside.)  We decided we would like to take Susan on a hot air balloon ride for Christmas.  The dad made arrangements with Bill Lee that night.  That's how the adventure began.   (By the way, Angela, when I first tried to add the pictures, they went in in what appeared to be a random order.  I followed your advice from a previous comment.  I removed all the pictures, then went back and unselected everything, and then I reselected them in order.  It worked!  Now they are in the right order!)

Susan is unwrapping this curious looking present.

"Oh.  What a pretty card."

She peeked inside the card and saw the balloon ride ticket.

We met Bill and his crew out at Red Rock Park at 7:00 in the morning.  It was 5 degrees then.

Here we are spreading out the balloon.  Man, was it ever cold!

They used a big fan to start filling the balloon with cold air at first.  We thought it was cold before.  Now add a high-powered fan.

We had to hold open the bottom of the balloon to fill it with air.

The balloon is upright, but not yet full.  I didn't get any pictures of it fully inflated.  As soon as the ballon stood upright, we all had to put our weight on the basket while the hot air went in.

This one was taken after we were off the ground.  You can see the flames shooting up inside.

There is our shadow in the canyon wall.

This is Bill Lee, the pilot. 

Obviously I didn't take this one.  I was in the gondola.  This is a picture I pulled off the internet.

When it was time to land, the wind picked up and the balloon started going too fast to land.  We flew on and on looking for a good spot to land.  Finally, Bill landed the balloon in this little spot.  It was not quite an acre big.  Notice the rock wall in the background.   So did we.  He had to drop the ballon down fast to avoid hitting it or those power lines.  He had us cround down and hold on to the gondola to prepare for a bumpy landing.  It was certainly bumpy, but he did it.  He is an amazing balloon pilot!

When we got back to Red Rock Park to pick up the car, Bill gave us all certificates.  We had the official First Timers ceremony, complete with the apple cider and the Balloonists Prayer.

We made it!  What a fun and amazing adventure!