Every year, Howell, MI hosts the Michigan Challenge Balloon Festival. Every year I have intentions of attending. Every year, I manage to miss out on the fun...But, not this year! My mom, sister, Jon and I made it to the last evening of festivities on Sunday and sat around for two hours waiting for the wind to die down enough for the balloons to launch. We were beginning to worry that they would not take off the ground, but at around 8:30, they gave the okay for a few balloons to launch. All in all, we saw about 10 balloons take off.
Ever since parachute day in gym class in elementary school, I've always wanted to take a balloon ride. One day, I will take a ride in a hot air balloon...one day!
In exciting news, this is a joint post with Jon. Check out his site for the balloon video that he made. And you can see the rest of the photos in this flickr set.
You should definitely go on a balloon ride one day! it's fantastic - very calm and peaceful, but surprisingly noisy when the burners are on!
Posted by: georgia | 03 July 2008 at 02:13 AM
Balloon festivals always remind me of college-the small little village in a valley where I went to college (doesn't it sound quaint? It was!) had a balloon festival every fall. It was one of my favorite reasons for going to college there!
Posted by: jessica | 03 July 2008 at 08:16 AM
ballon rides sound fun, but very scary. looking down from way up there with not much around you would totally scare me. the ballons are so bright and colorful!
Posted by: priscilla | 03 July 2008 at 09:01 AM
That looks like so much fun! We used to have an annual hot air balloon show nearby growing up/ It used to be one of our favorite things to do as kids- once a year we would wake up super early to go see the early morning lift off with my mom.
Posted by: Betty | 03 July 2008 at 09:40 AM
The balloons are beautiful, aren't they? We have a festival here, too, but I've only been once. We do watch for them, though!
Posted by: jenclair | 03 July 2008 at 10:22 AM
Wow, love these photos. I also really enjoyed Jon's video. It was amazing. He is really talented. I hope that one day you get to go on a balloon ride. I think it would be fun, but I'd probably freek out when it got really high. One question, why do they put them so close together? The balloons I mean. It seems when they start to take off they are bumping into each other. Why don't they spread out a little further?
Posted by: Cami | 03 July 2008 at 11:36 AM
that looks like so much FUN!!!
Posted by: amandajean | 03 July 2008 at 07:34 PM
That looks like so much fun! I bet my kids would go nuts over all those balloons in the sky. I really enjoyed Jon's video too, esp. the ending with that one balloon and those perfect clouds. Oh, and the music was really nice too!
Posted by: gardenymph | 04 July 2008 at 04:16 PM
I love the simplicity of the balloons. Such a quiet way to travel and just deciding to go where the wind goes.
Posted by: Amy | 05 July 2008 at 11:30 PM