WOO HOO! What a great weekend in Stowe with my good friend Steve. We went for a nice (but hilly!) bike ride, I baked a quintessential New England blueberry pie, we had lunch and walked around the property at the Von Trapp Family lodge... and OF COURSE! we had an incredible 45-minute hot air balloon ride.
It was an amazing experience. There was a bit of a delay because of the direction of the wind (they were afraid we would go up to the mountains and not have anywhere to land!). But after patiently waiting and watching the other balloons set up, we finally left the ground! Our balloon was GORGEOUS as was the sunset and views. The experience was very scary though... we went up REALLY fast, the heat from the balloon was REALLY hot (especially on Steve's bald head!), the basket was particularly tiny and the railings were lower than I expected. Every once in a while I would peek out to look down, and I was so freaked that the basket would tip slightly. Definitely not for those with a fear of heights.
We went up to about 6,000 feet above sea level (starting at only 70) and traveled about 10 miles, landing in the backyard of a lovely couple. Once landed and packed back up into the chase vehicle, we celebrated a lovely tradition of sharing a bottle of champagne with the owner of the property we landed on.
I'm still in shock with how surreal it all seemed. Absolutely unforgettable and amazing but scary as hell! I'm so glad I did it!
Here are a few videos (two more on my youtube site) and there are TONS of photos here too!
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2 comments:
that is soooo cool! what an amazing experience!
How fun! Now I know why you didn't answer my call Saturday!
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