Full of Hot Air

Who knew . . . hot air balloons are worth loosing sleep over?

I went to bed at 1:30 am, woke up at 4:30 am and couldn't figure out why at 10am I was ready for a nap.  But it was all well worth it in the end because the hot air balloon festival in the middle of Jersey this weekend turned out to be a cool experience. 

When we first arrived, after driving a little over an hour and having trudged through muddy fields in our flip flops I had yet to see any balloons and I was a little worried I had talked my friends into something that was lame.  

However, as we walked out towards the fields with a few balloons, all of a sudden in a matter of minutes the festival came alive and figuratively and literally took off.

I put the photos in order to give you a sense of what it was like.

We arrived right in time as many of the balloons were inflating and ascending.  I was amazed at how close we were able to get to the balloons, how closely the balloons could be near one another, how many balloons participated in the festival (at one time we counted 65 balloons) and of course how different each balloon was from the other.  It was truly a morning full of spectacular sights. 

As my mom says . . . "Save your pennies"  because next year I want to ride in a balloon.