In order to put your life in the care of a hot air ballooner, you have to meet the staff in the lobby at 5:45 am. Yep, you get up in the middle of the night to dangle in a basket 2500 feet in the air. It is insanity at its finest! As a confirmed acrophobic who believes that ferris wheels are the work of the devil....I can't begin to explain how I convinced myself that my personal participation in this activity was anything like a good idea. Will wonders never cease?
So at 5:15 am we called in to make sure our flight was still a go. At 5:45 the van picked us up at the Snow King Resort. We drove out near Tetonia and watched them set up the balloons. There were three of them that morning. Ours was the largest with a basked that could hold 12 to 16 people. Our pilot, Andy, was the company owner of the Wyoming Balloon Company.
I have to admit that I was a bit unnerved by the lift off...thinking "what have I done?!" But as the balloon gracefully floated upwards, I took a deep breath and it just allowed myself to soak in the visual banquet. Ours was the first balloon to take off, so the people and balloons below us got smaller and the valley view became broader and grander. Wow! Words just can't describe what it was like to see the valley from anywhere from 100 to 2500 feet up in the air. It was so calm and peaceful up there...much nicer than from an airplane.
During our flight, we saw a cow moose and calf below (sorry the picture is blurry). Andy dropped us down mid flight to "ring the bell"...hitting the basket on the ground then rising so that the basket would swing in the air. It was a slow swing since our basket was so big, but it was the only real motion we felt. There was a lovely view of the mountains reflected in a lake and the other balloons against the mountainside were gorgeous. It was an hour of roaming the valley in the sunrise.
We got to watch the smallest of the three balloons land first. Then we were second...one good bounce and a bump and we were down. We stayed in the basket while they "burped" the balloon. Then it was a hop out of the basket and ole terra firma yet again. What a great thing to do just for the experience! I highly recommend it...even for those with fear of height. It's great!!! The link to all my pics is the following:
