A day in Sedona

Good Morning, from high in the sky just west of Sedona, AZ!!!


We had to get up way, way before breakfast for this adventure! But we were excited to do it.

We were picked up at 4:55 a.m.(!!!) and driven to the set up zone. those guys have this balloon thing down to a science! They worked together as a team to get the balloon in the air pretty quickly!

Yesterday, I wrote about a dust storm that closed I-40. The balloon pilot said that they did not go out yesterday because of high winds.

Today was a different story. Our balloon was the first one off of the ground. We went up and up, but 15 minutes later we were still almost over the same spot where we lifted off! There just wasn't any wind to push us.

We were paired up with a couple from Florida, Joy and Tony. They were very helpful and respectful with Mom.

I was worried about getting an 82 year old lady into the basket with some semblance of grace and dignity. I didn't know how we were going to do it. Well some things you just dive in and do. Mom put here foot in the step hole in the side of the basket and threw her first leg in. She was straddling the basket wall. Then we pushed her in and pushed her other leg with her. It was done! She was in the basket. Let's go.

Mom said she didn't have any fear at all during the ride. I wish I could say that! When we were going up, there was a minute or so where I was tightly grasping the railing! But it was so smooth that we both relaxed.

Mom made small talk with Joy and Tony and looked out at the view. I think she thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

I think that the pilot did not want to jostle Mom too much so he set the balloon down so softly that you hardly knew we stopped moving.

Once we were packed we went to look for the last balloon. We found it on 89A, which at that point is a 65 mph four lane highway! We stopped and all of the balloon crew helped them get the balloon down and deflated.

in the afternoon, we drove up Oak Creek Canyon. The views were spectacular! I loved the switchbacks. We checked out the Indian wares in a couple of places.

We found a place to take pictures late in the day and before you know it, the day was gone.

Still it was a good day, an adventurous day!