Since Leonard and I were both going to turn 40 this year, we thought we'd celebrate by crossing an item off our bucket list by going on a hot air balloon ride.
We met at the University grounds so early that the moon was still up.
Trying out our new camera we were able to get this close-up! (And we could have zoomed in further, we just couldn't keep the camera steady. We'll have to try again someday with our tri-pod.)
We were travelling with one pilot, and 10 other basket-mates. There was also a single ground crew man who helped us get the balloon filled, then followed us with the big van on our journey.
These 2 couples shared our side of the basket with us.
Our pilot and the other 6 passengers.
Hot air balloon flying is a crazy sensation, because there is NO sensation of movement. We couldn't even feel the lift off, just all of a sudden I looked down and we were no longer on the ground. We truly felt like we were just walking the winds.
I like this pic that Len took of me taking a pic of the sleepy city below.
I felt like Peter Pan (or maybe Wendy, ha!) flying over the roof tops of London.
The new Lansdowne Park area was under our flight path.
We couldn't get a shot of the inflated balloon, because as soon as it was filled we had to hurry and jump in the basket before it lifted off. Also, as soon as we touched down it started deflating before we were even out of the basket. I am so glad I was able to capture this lovely reflection though!
Len had to fly a paper airplane out of the basket, silly goose! We also travelled by a helium balloon that lost its way.
We were aiming for a soccer field to land in, but missed it by a little.
We touched down in a field of wildflowers and a few of the guys (including Len) were asked to jump out and then guide the balloon over to the soccer field.
Time to jump out.
We had the best time and would love to do it again. Although, I'd rather fly like this super cool green bee someday!
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