The morning of Saturday, 8/18/12, Justin surprised me with my (early) birthday gift- a sunrise hot air balloon ride! We got up at 4am (yikes!) and headed out to Token Creek, WI- right outside of Sun Prairie.
Justin booked the flight with Gentle Breezes and we had a magical ride. The pilot and crew were experienced, professional, knowledgeable and fun. Highly recommended!
We met up with the pilot, his ground crew, and another couple and headed to the Blackhawk airport in Cottage Gove to set up the balloon and take off.
They fill about half of the balloon up with 2 super high-powered fans…
…then they fire up the propane torch!
After they turned on the propane, we were in the basket and off the ground within 5-10 minutes. Once we got off the ground, the sunrise and morning mist views were absolutely breathtaking!
My favorite shot of the day- fog and shadows in the sunrise. Reminds me of some exotic shot of the Serengeti. So mesmerizing!
And a close-up
Though we were quite a ways away, Justin managed to get a pretty good shot of downtown Madison.
We went over a couple small rivers, and some of the coolest sights of the day were the balloon reflections in the water.
An aerial shot of Justin’s favorite church in Deerfield.
We were also lucky to see a few deer- including a fawn- running through the fields!
We landed in a plowed field in Deerfield, about 50 yards away from the road. Because the balloon + basket weigh upwards of 600 pounds, the pilot hovered the balloon about 4-5 feet above the ground, while the ground crew grabbed handles on the basket and ‘walked’ the balloon to the road.
Once we were at the side of the road, the passengers hopped out of the basket, and the crew started deflating and packing up the balloon.
Happy birthday girl at the end of the ride- what an amazing experience!
~Kris
