Go to a hot air balloon festival if you ever get a chance! We had a first-time experience seeing hot air balloons up close last night when we visited the 2007 Pennington Southeast Regional Hot Air Balloon Championship in Baton Rouge. The championships started Friday and ended today.
Hot air balloons filled the skies over Baton Rouge and we saw them while we were still en route to the festival. The evening take-off was at 6:30 p.m. and we missed it by a few minutes, but we were still close enough to enjoy the balloons all ascending. Experiencing the air balloons first-hand was much different than seeing them on TV as we had before. They were beautiful and colorful and looked so elegant and gentle floating up into the sky. I will stop trying to explain it, because words can't do a hot air balloon experience justice.
Thousands of people (literally) were at the festival, but there was no crowded spot in the park. Everyone had a great view of the balloons from wherever they chose to sit and watch them because they're so big! The event was free, too! The only cost of the event was food and drinks, if you wanted to sample from the vendors selling sausage-on-a-stick and friend alligator!
We passed on the food because it was sooooo hot, but we grabbed some lemonade and sat to watch the "lighting of the torches," as they called it. All of the air balloon teams blew up their balloons on the field at 8:00. The announcer counted down 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-----and all of the balloon pilots lit their torches at the same time, lighting the balloons up like light bulbs! The sight was magnificent. The colors and different shapes of the hot air balloons all glowed in the night sky. They kept doing this countdown for at least thirty minutes. We sat there and watched for a long time. I was so amazed I could have sat there all night and not become bored with it.
The kids enjoyed the free kid's carnival where they got to bounce and climb on all kinds of moonwalks they had. The evening ended with fireworks and the temperature was still 92 degrees when we left the festival at 9:45 p.m. Those were some HOT air balloons, and we were some HOT people!
We did take the camera, but unfortunately we found out it was dead when Travis tried to snap a picture of me and the kids. I copied this picture off of the festival website. I am bummed I didn't get a picture of the balloon torch, though!
1 comment:
There was once a race that went over our house growing up in OH and it was just as neat as you said. It really is a beautiful sight!! What a neat experience. :O)
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