Life List #51: Ride in a Hot Air Balloon

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!

#51 on the ole' Life List

So... its not definite yet (have to see if I can get a reservation and the lady is out of the office today), but I may be knocking "#51: Ride a hot air balloon" off of my list! I am heading to Stowe, Vermont this weekend for the "Stoweflake Balloon Festival" and I am so ridiculously excited. I've always had a weird fascination with hot air balloons. I've never been in one and I've always wanted to ride one a la Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.

I'll keep you posted! Should be a great weekend either way. They have a phenomenal 5.5 mile Recreation Path too that goes past another weird childhood obsession of mine... the von Trapp Family (Sound of Music) cottage where they moved to and are now all buried (well, mostly buried actually as a few are still around and kicking). Sounds like the perfect spot for my 11-mile run!

Hoorah!