Up, up, and AWAY... 8200 ft in the SKY!!!

Last week, Mitch and I were able to have a night on "cloud 9", and it was unbelievable!

It was around Christmas time when Groupon posted the opportunity to take to the skies in a hot air balloon with Sundance Balloons for half of the regular price. I took a stab in the dark, hoping that my husband would be on board with this when I presented him with the voucher (in May) for his birthday. He was. :)

Hot air ballooning is very dependent on weather and it is quite common for scheduled flights to be canceled the day of, due to storms, rain, high winds or no winds. I have heard of several instances where people have had their reservation rescheduled multiple times before they ride in a balloon. We were very fortunate to be able to ascend into the blue yonder on our very first scheduled reservation.

The evening was perfect.

I can't actually remember the last date Mitch and I went on before this evening... Our anniversary, maybe? Anyway, we enjoyed dinner together at 'Go For Sushi'. We were both impressed with their menu and style of dining. The sushi was delicious.

We went to Kinsmen Park for 6:15 to meet with the Sundance Crew, and our sky high adventure began. :)

Arriving at Kinsmen where the crew was laying the balloon out on the grass made us even more excited for this experience!

Here is a look at the basket we rode up in. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't quite like this in my mind. Mitch and I rode in the section on the top left.

Mitch got to help get air into the balloon by holding onto one of the sides. It was pretty incredible to watch how quickly those fans inflated the balloon.

You can get somewhat of an idea from this picture, but seriously, the balloon is HUGE!

Once there's enough air in the balloon, the flame is turned on to heat that air so it all rises. It pulls the basket upright so we can all climb in. It was tethered to their van. :)

This pic gives you an idea of how "cozy" each of the four sections in the basket were. Good thing it was date night! :) We didn't mind.

I really like this picture of Mitch because it captures how we were feeling for most of the experience. This was during our "lift off"which was a cool/thrilling feeling.

Buh-bye Sundance van. The van actually follows and tracks the balloon from the ground so that is is there to pick you up when you land.

Here is a view of Kinsmen park from above. The next 5 pictures are also of Kinsmen park as we ascend higher....

and higher...

and higher...

and higher... (bottom right corner)

and HIGHER!

We were up as high as 8200 ft above sea level, which is more than twice as high that the average balloon ride ascends. Our pilot/guide told us that they often only climb to about 3000-3500 ft, but on this particular evening there was almost no wind. We had to get as high as we did so that we could find a breeze that would carry the balloon out of the city. I found that interesting. I knew that balloon rides could be jeopardized by too much wind, but I hadn't thought about how NO wind could also pose problems.

Looking out over the edge of the basket, it was like time stood still. We were in the sky for about an hour and a quarter, but it felt much shorter than that. It's a very serene, yet exhilarating sensation.

It's kind of funny how safe you feel in the basket considering just how high you are and there is nothing belting you in. If you wanted to jump, you could. Mitch and I were leaning back against the edge of the basket and it didn't cross my mind to be nervous about it. 

Our pilot/guide was from Slovenia and I'm assuming this is their flag??? I haven't actually checked. :)

So spectacular. I felt so, so, SO small.

Of course, my farmer hubby noticed all of the water on the land. It IS pretty crazy. He pointed out the piece of land in the middle to me. Look really closely at how it is swathed in several small sections that are semi round, not in rows. ;)

AND the landing...

We had been fore-warned by friends of ours that balloon landings can be rough. You don't think that a balloon that just glides so peacefully along where the wind takes it would have a bumpy landing, but it does! Our pilot told us that our landing likely wouldn't be too rough because it was so calm on the ground, but some other factors contributed to a rather exciting finale.

Our pilot chose a grid road that he wanted to land on. The fact that he can pick a road to land on is pretty incredible. He can not "steer" the balloon at all. He can only control the ascent/descent. I could definitely feel how much more quickly we descended than we had initially climbed. My ears were feeling the pressure.

From the van on the ground, the crew informed the pilot that there were power lines along the grid road he had chosen. This didn't faze him, but he did tell us that the landing wouldn't be as soft as he'd initially thought because we would have to hang in the air to clear the power lines than drop quickly to hit the road.

After passing the power lines, it felt like the ground came up VERY quickly. We first touched down about 20 ft from the edge of a canola field and then dragged up the ditch, over the road, and just barely down into the ditch on the other side. The initial touch down is with the basket still upright, but as the balloon drags you, the basket is on it's side. When we reached the far side of the road and went over the other edge, I was sure we were going to tip upside down. I'm kinda glad we didn't. ;)

Mitch and I both agreed that the landing was fun.

Here is the small section of canola we flattened with our landing... I hope that those canola plants stand up again for the farmer that owns this field (this is the sympathetic farmer's wife in me talking). Funny that you can't actually see the wires we had to clear in this picture, but trust me, they were there.

And thus, we have made it to the conclusion of a wonderful date night experience. I would recommend going up in a hot air balloon to anyone. It is unlike anything I have ever experienced. It took the Sundance crew about 20 minutes to get the balloon all folded up and into the trailer with the basket, then we drove back into Saskatoon. I think we landed about 10-15 min. out?

What a great date!