Hot Air Balloon
Two years have passed since I’ve written on this beautiful site.
Two years, and far too many things that have scared me.
But, we’re back!
And stronger than ever, because I went on an UNBELIEVABLE hot air balloon ride!
This has been a bucket list item for as long as I can remember.
We used to watch them in the early mornings back home in Longmont, Colorado floating smoothly across the Front Range.
All these years later, I decided to try it out!
I went with my partner, Sam.
We went through Vista Balloon Adventures.
It is a 6-fleet company founded in 1989 by Roger and Catherine. They sold their company in 2014 to “travel and sleep in.”
The pilots are all FAA certified with over 6,000 combined flight hours, making them the most experienced balloon pilots in the Northwest!
We were lucky enough to have Kelly as our pilot.
Kelly has been flying balloons for 26 years!
She was so knowledgeable, and so patient with us as we asked our hundreds of questions about the science of flying. Nerds.
We arrived at the launch site in Newberg, Oregon at 5:30am.
Straight away, they brought out vans and trailers with the baskets and balloons.
We got to watch the entire set up process from pulling the balloons out of the bags, to opening the balloons up with fans, to starting the burners to get the balloons in the air!
Sam was incredibly lucky to have gotten picked as a volunteer to help in this process.
Look out for the next volunteer crew member!
The teamwork required to put up a balloon is incredible. And Vista relies heavily on volunteer crew members to help facilitate the set up as well as the chaser van to pick us up wherever we land.
The community created by this hobby is inspiring.
Anyway, we spent about a half an hour setting up before we got the OK to board the basket.
Hearts pounding, we waited for two other balloons to take off before it was our turn.
It blew us away how fast we got into the air!
The ride took us an hour and 5 minutes to complete, and we went about 3 miles as the crow flies.
We flew over the Willamette River and even touched the water with the basket!
We ended up landing in a field between Newberg and St. Paul.
This field was owned by a family who Vista pilots had created a wonderful relationship with! Offering free flights whenever they wanted them, and a gracious hello with every landing.
Kelly taught us many interesting things about flying:
The wind dictates the flight- direction, speed, even if there can be a flight- it needs to be the perfect amount to succeed.
Flying higher or lower in the atmospheric levels allows you to travel in different directions and at different speeds.
The only control the pilot has over the flight is increasing or decreasing height; the rest is up to wind.
Every flight is different because of this. Only up in the air can the pilot determine the route- and even then it changes minute to minute! Our flight route changed three times due to the wind changing directions mid-flight, and the speed changing mid-flight as well.
Because we traveled with other balloons, our pilots had to use walkie-talkies to communicate location, winds, etc between aircrafts. It was a finely-tuned art.
After landing in the field, the volunteer crew and all the passengers helped put away the balloon.
We folded it in and pushed the air out to fit it into a bag– much like a sleeping bag!
Kelly even had our child-passenger roll over the balloon to help get all of the hot air out.
The entire experience was about 3 hours long.
It was a whirlwind of an experience.
Seeing the world from 1600 feet in the air, being held up by nothing but a bucket attached to a balloon was an unexplainable feeling. Nerves.
Excitement.
Adrenaline.
Awe.
Wonder.
10/10 I would recommend an adventure like this!
Worth the $240 per person, no doubt.
Kelly even finished the morning off with a signed poster and as many stickers that would fit in my purse!
Cheers to more adventures,
Rach
