Pictures

I wanted to share some pictures from my flight but couldn't get them to load until now :-)

Hope you enjoy them!

Instigator

The picture of Sweet Pea's first flight - the balloons in the background are already starting to glow.

These balloons put up down the main highway from where we lifted off.

I was part of the key grab flight. Each pilot must judge the wind, inflate at least 3 miles away from the field and then fly into the park. At the center of the field is a pole (about 15 or 20 feet in the air) with a ring on the end. If the pilot grabs the ring (without touching the ground or landing within a designated circle) they win a brand new truck. It's very hard! A balloon doesn't have directional controls. The only thing they can use is going higher and lower to catch a wind blowing them in the direction they want to go. A pilot did win it this year (the man that taught my pilot to fly actually)

These balloons were inflating on the same field that we just took off from.

These balloons were also inflating in the field we took off from. Our balloon was the third off the ground. It's amazing how much smaller everything looks. On the ground power lines look very tall - until they're hundreds of feet beneath you, the lines almost invisible.