After years of watching the hot air balloons floating over Woodinville we decided we needed to be in one ourselves.  It was on Rob’s bucket list and I loved this idea so it was his birthday present last year.

We flew with Balloon Depot out of Snohomish.  That morning the two pilots spent a lot of time trying to decide which way the wind was blowing.  It wasn’t blowing much at all in any direction.  When we got to the destination, they unrolled the balloon fabric and turned the basket on its side to begin the inflation.

They ultimately decided to take off from Lord Hill Farms with a plan to land at the Snohomish airport.  Yes, we have had these tickets since December and when the day arrived it was the smokiest day we have ever seen.  The 6am meeting time allowed us to enjoy an incredible bright red sunrise from the smoke.

An “in the air” picture.

The other balloon descended too quickly and was very slow to make it to the airport.  They had some fun with the lack of wind and got within inches of the river before lifting back up to clear the trees on the river bank.

We landed safely exactly where our pilot said we would.  Pretty incredible that with no directional or speed control a hot air balloon pilot could be so accurate.  We did learn there are flaps in the balloon that could be pulled on to spin the balloon around to give all of the passengers different views.

Bucket list, check!