For our 10th wedding anniversary I wanted to do something special for Christie so I decided to surprise her with a hot air baloon ride. Not only that, I wanted it to be private so I sheduled a baloon that would just be us and the pilot. I kept it a secret until about a week before the trip since she needed to know that we had to get up very early that day.
The day of the balloon ride, we had to get there at 5:15 am which meant that we had to get up at 4:30am because the balloons took off from the Newberg airfield. The balloons only take off at sunrise because later in the day the winds are much more unpredictable. Upon getting there we learned that there were going to be about 5 balloons flying that day. Three of them were larger balloons holding up to eight passengers while the other two were two passenger balloons. I got to help them setup the balloon while Christie took pictures.
My portion of setting up the balloon consisted of just holding open the bottom end of the balloon while a large fan filled it up with air. After the balloon was sufficiently full, the pilot turned on the heater to heat the air in the balloon to create the lift. Christie and I then got into the basket and after a short explanation of what to do during the landing (and after waiting for all the other balloons to take off), we got airborne.
Flying in hot air balloon is very peacfull. The balloons are navigated by changing your altitude and picking up different winds at different altitudes. That particular day the winds were anywhere from two to six miles per hour and the cloud cover was at about 1900 feet (which is as high as we went).
The Newberg airfield is near the Willamette river and after coasting towards it for a while we did what is called a "splash and dash." The pilot gradually let the balloon lower until the bottom of the basket was just resting on the river and we coasted down the river for about five minutes. Only one other of the balloons that day was also able to do this so it was nice that we got to as well.
After we got back in the air it was time for me to give Christie her anniversary present. She wasn't expecting another gift since I had given her an anklet earlier in the week as a diversion. The real present was a charm bracelet with several charms on it (our initials, an aquamarine, a cat and a heart). Needless to say, she was surprised and pleased.
After all this our pilot now began looking for a place to land. The area we were floating over is farm country and the balloon company has agreements with the local farmers so our pilot chose a harvested field to land in. After a very smooth landing our pilot and his ground crew pushed the air out of the balloon and Christie and I helped to hold the balloon while they put it in its bag carrier. We then got in the truck and drove back to the airfield for our champagne brunch which consisted of some excellent home cooked food.
We had an excellent time and would definitely consider doing it again!!
