Up, Up and Back Down

After two delays due to bad conditions we were finally able to go up on our hot air balloon ride over Park City, Utah today. We woke early in the morning to temperatures around -6 degrees and headed to the meet up place. We were very cold IN the van...but managed to bundle up and get to the launch site without freezing any limbs...

Once at the landing site we were able to watch them set up the balloon using 2 great big fans. Brrrrr.
After 10 minutes or so the balloon was 1/2 inflated...still freezing cold!

Finally the balloon was ready to lift off and we loaded into the basket with our guide. We ended up with 10 guests and a guide for our flight. Here's our crew from left to right: Libby, Jeremy, David, and Nina, just before lift off.
We were one of two balloons that went up...this is the other balloon, which chose to go straight up very quickly. We were glad of the more gradual ascent of our guide. It was a gentle, slow ascent up to 2500 feet above a snow covered Park City mountain view. It was beautiful!!



Here we are near the top of our ride...still smiling and enjoying the view. Not nearly as cold up in the air...strange, but true. There is no breeze when you are in the balloon since you go with the flow of the air. The burner, which emits 500,000 btus, kept us warm when it was on. But they were turned off for our descent and gradual return to land.
And after two almost landings we were able to land at a rest stop beside the highway. Our landing was incredibly smooth, with a 20 yards of skidding across the asphalt and then stopping in a snow bank. We quickly headed to the waiting warm van and watched the crew pack up the balloon. After a trip back to the car we enjoyed a lovely breakfast at No Worries Cafe and headed home. It was a wonderful experience...so glad we went.