An Uplifting Experience

Yes, the weather was acceptable so we DID go on our 5th Anniversary outing today! Guess what it was? It was a hot-air balloon flight! The flight was provided by Morning Star Hot Air Balloon Company of Ridgefield, WA.\par
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We left the house at 3:45 a.m. and arrived at the Albertson’s parkinglot in Battleground at 4:30. We were joined by Captain Crystal Stout, and her husband “Dr. Don” who took us to the launch site… well, that is, we went to a potential launch site to see how the air was behaving with a small helium balloon trailing a glowstick. Apparently it was acceptable because then they got the stuff all out and we launched the balloon from there. I was pretty cold while they were setting the balloon up, it being about 5:00 in the morning and my three layers not being sufficient to keep me warm. Below is a picture of “Dr. Don” (he’s a chiropractor) inflating the balloon with the huge burners.\par
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Then we boarded the balloon, Michael, Crystal, and I, and starting ascending. Dr. Don was the “chaser” who followed us all over the country in his truck. I started to ask how he kept track of us, but realized that we were probably pretty visible being the only air-balloon floating around over Vancouver. \par
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When we got up in the air, it wasn’t so cold. (Especially since Don lent me his jacket) The fog in the valleys and trees was beautiful, and the sunrise was particularly spectacular due to the forest fires near Mt. Hood: it turned the sun a magenta color with purple on top. Crystal was very excited (she’s a very cheerful, chirpy, excited sort of person) by the sunrise. We could even smell the smoke when we got up high. Because of the fog we couldn’t go down and keep watching the sunrise over and over, but it was a lot of fun seeing all of the valley from 5000 feet!\par
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We were up for about an hour and 45 minutes. The landing process was the most exciting part: it’s very haphazard as to where exactly you land, and Crystal kept saying that the winds were rather unusual today. We ended up landing more toward Ridgefield than Battleground (where we launched from).\’c3\’82\’c2\~She kept thinking she might land in such and such a field below, and then\’c3\’82\’c2\~the wind would blow us a different direction, or it was too close or something, and once or twice we had to\’c3\’82\’c2\~go up\’c3\’82\’c2\~pretty fast to avoid some trees. (at least, it seemed like it to us, although we could tell that the Captain had it all under control)\’c3\’82\’c2\~We eventually landed in somebody’s front yard, where we were quickly joined by the landowner’s neighbors and a lady a few houses away who’s dogs had alerted her to our presence as we swooped over her house on our way down. Michael and I jumped out when told and the two neighbor ladies were invited in for the final landing:\par
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The whole packing up process took longer than usual as the fan had been knocked over while the truck was chasing us through a hay field at 40 miles an hour, and the gas had spilled all over everything in the truck bed. The neighbors and owner were very helpful – Tim helped clean out the truck bed and tried to fix the fan, and Randy (the landowner who received a bottle of sparkling cider for his generosity in allowing us to stay on his property – apparently it’s tradition) helped deflate and pack up the balloon. Keep in mind that these were people that neither Crystal, Don, Michael nor I had ever seen before!\par
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\’c3\’82\’c2\~After the balloon ride was all over we went back to our car at Albertsons and followed Crystal and Don over to Daybreak Park where we had a breakfast picnic complete with commemorative champagne flutes (and champagne). They are VERY interesting people; quite out of the ordinary. Their conversation and stories were responsible for at least half of the entertainment of the outing! Apparently he’s a chiropractor who makes housecalls, and she does the ballooning thing, and they both help each other in their respective businesses. They’ve only been married for 4 years and are a very cute couple.\par
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After our ballooning experience, it was only about 10:30 in the morning so we went to downtown Portland. I got some much needed coffee at Pioneer\’c3\’82\’c2\~Place\’c3\’82\’c2\~and we walked all over Portland, visiting Powell’s bookstore and sitting in a park for a while. Eventually we drove back to our town and had lunch at the newest restaurant in town – it was very good!\par
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Angela had done a wonderful job caring for our boys, and she had cleaned up the kitchen and vacuumed the floors as well! What a fabulous sister-in-law! Ezra had just woken up from his afternoon nap when we got back and he was delighted to see us. Both of the boys had been fine while we were gone, which is always great to hear!\par
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All in all it was a wonderful anniversary celebration, and I am so happy to be married to such a thoughtful, creative guy!\par
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