Balloons (part 3)

Balloons part 3...my parents are sponsor for the National Balloon Classic and with that comes a ride in a hot air balloon. My mom is afraid of heights and my dad has plenty of daily duties at the field that they let me use the flight! We tried to get Heather to fly too, but there wasn't room in the basket...hopefully next year! I got to fly with Kim McCourt, he flies with Thompson Aire, a handful of balloonist from Florida. We headed out to the country to try and fly into the balloon field.
Started off with a big fan and added some cold air.
Once it is full...he added some hot air!

...and some more heat.

...and the balloon starts to fill up.

With the balloon filled up we hop in the basket.

Up and away, we join the other balloons in flight.

The pilot took us higher and higher as he was trying to find the "right" wind to take us to the field.

After a few more minutes and a lot more hot air, we were over 3,000 feet up!

It was a pretty good view from that high!

What goes up, also comes down. We missed the field but here are some balloons that landed on the balloon field.

After everyone landed, we packed the balloon up and headed back to the field. I had a great flight and enjoyed my time in the sky! Back at the field there were several balloons that were "night glowing"

One of my favorites balloons at night is this yellow balloon with red flames at the bottom!

2010 was another great year for the balloons down in Indianola! Big thanks to my parents for all the accommodations at the field, we had a great time! I can't wait for next year!