Jackieinpdx's Blog

Up, up and away

I’m not sure what this is but most of the flight we were flying over very fertile farm land. Some hops and some vineyards.

We are approaching the Willamette River.

They call this a “French kiss” when two balloons touch while on the water. I was asked to email this photo to the balloon company owners.

Here is another view of the valley and river.

Willamette Valley farm land

There were four balloons flying this day. We had the other three in site most of the time. Sometimes they were way higher than us and other times way lower. It was just so cool to watch.

We landed in this clearing at Mission State Park just north of Salem. We probably flew 10 miles or more. Jon told us that for most of the flight we were flying at 18mph which is much faster than the norm of about 3mph. It was windy but not so much to make a bumpy flight or a hard landing. Jon said last Friday he had a really rough landing and the basket landed on it’s side. That happens occasionally. That is why before you take off you are instructed on how to position yourself for a rough landing. Thank goodness ours was very smooth and uneventful.

Jon told us several times that it was the perfect day for a flight. We had the luck of touching down on the river and a soft landing.

Tara, Kelly and the other passenger Casey were put to work helping the crew roll the balloon up to put in it’s relatively small bag.

After the traditional hot air balloonist toast (Pink Ladies, Mimosas and champagne) the brunch after the flight was really good too. They had smoked salmon, hot artichoke dip with various crackers and bread, several cheeses, fruit, a baked potatoes and cheese dish, breakfast burritos, blueberry French toast and more followed by several desserts.

It was a fabulous day! The weather was perfect. A beautiful fall Oregon sunny day. I will certainly go on a hot air balloon flight again.

Thank you Vista Balloon Adventures for such a wonderful experience.

My Webshots photo album. If you to the last page of the album there are two more videos you can watch. Enjoy, I know I did.

Filed under: Oregon |