I started the morning with breakfast in bed from my charming husband... who made me a fresh egg bagel, orange juice and a blueberry muffin. Just as I was melting and mushy, Ben told me that he figured I should have a "nice last meal." He was positive that I would end up so excited once on the balloon that I would fall over the edge and he would be a widower by the end of the afternoon. Regardless of the weird reasoning... I got breakfast in bed! :)
After work, my coworker SW and I booked it to Sullivan to meet JT. The whole hot air balloon excursion was for our one year anniversary at work. We busted open a bottle of Naughty Girl wine (love it) and watched as the crew got the balloon filled with air and ready to go.
We climbed into the basket-- with the remaining wine in our glasses-- and in a matter of seconds we were floating away in the air.
The view was spectacular!! The leaves were still trying to change colors, but the little bits of color and the farmers' fields and the tons of tiny lakes and the winding roads and houses..... it was just so cool.
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| looking over the edge of the basket! |
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| so many lakes and rivers |
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| shadow from our balloon |
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| another shadow from our balloon |
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| over the treetops |
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| such an awesome experience! |
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| farmer fields |
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| little foot trail in the Kettle Moraine forest |
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| SW taking in the scene |
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| adding some hot air!! disadvantage of being tall = burning head sensation |
We floated around for about an hour and a half... the whole while Ben kept me updated via text on the Packers' score against Denver, and the Brewers' playoff game score against the Diamondbacks. The balloon pilot told us that we were going to be landing soon, and that we would be aiming for a soccer field up ahead in the middle of a subdivision.
As we got lower, people started running out of their houses and waving to us with their Packer jerseys and tshirts on. One guy waved and yelled "THE PACKERS WON!!! COME ON BACK FOR A BEER!!!"
We bumped along the ground and came to a rest near the soccer field... but more like the edges of the local cemetery. The people that had come running out of their homes to wave at us before were now armed with cameras and speeding towards us in cars, on bicycles and on foot. The pilot told us that we were not able to get out of the basket until the crew showed up, otherwise without our weight the balloon would take off again.
So here we are, standing in a wicker basket under a giant balloon with people taking our pictures and asking us how the trip was. We joked around that we felt famous... or at the very least like an alien spaceship that just crash landed :)
We got a ride back to the launch site from the ground crew, who told us that we were about 13.5 miles from where we took off. Then we headed to Delafield for some dinner at the Water Street Brewery. Side note: we split a boiled egg wrapped in meat and deep fried with mustard over the top... just because it seemed silly enough. Not bad, and not necessarily good.
Overall, it was an amazing experience that I would LOVE to do again!! Maybe I can get Ben to do it with me... we will see....
xoxo, b
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