August 8th, 2009.
We take a ride on a balloon from Woodinville to Snohomish.
Armin explains the details of how, after signing a waiver, we'll hop
in the basket the balloon will take us up in the air and then we'll
come down again and may even survive.
We clamber in the van and head to the launching point, not far from
home on the Malby road.
This is Bill. He'll be our pilot.
Step 1: Set up the basket.
Step 2: Hook up the balloon.
Step 3: Stretch the balloon out across the yard.
Step 4: Ask for volunteers to hold the balloon mouth open while it
gets filled up.
Step 5: Crank up a couple of fans hooked up to lawn mower engines.
Step 6: Hold the mouth open until the balloon fills up.
Armin helps to set up the other balloon.
Back to our balloon, we're starting to inflate.
It might fill up faster if they close up the hole on the top.
There's a lot of space in that thing.
Step 7: Hook up the gas.
Step 8: And fire it up.
Until it stands up on it's own. Quick, climb in!!
Step 9: Up...
up...
and away...
It's a bit hazy with Seattle in the distance, but the cooler weather
makes the balloon easier to get aloft.
A brand new high school -- does not appear on the map.
There was a party going on here. Loud music could be heard. A nice
break from all the barking dogs that didn't like us going overhead.
Looking for a landing site. The van is down there on the farm access
road waiting for us.
A couple other balloons we happened to see on our journey.
No time for pictures during the landing. Here we're on the ground
and the balloon is starting to deflate.
Jake is the expert "squeezer" getting the air out so the balloon can
be packed up again.
Hopefully we can get it all packed up before the farmer comes out with
his pitch fork or shotgun.
All deflated.
The bit of straw I picked up for a souvenir got in
front of the lens on this shot. Oops.
If we were driving we would have taken this path, but I believe we
went more straighter.
Back at the winery we get the story of ballooning while sipping wine
and filling up on crackers and cheese.
