Over the Rainbow

 My mother sent me a text pic Thursday night:

I've never been to a balloonfest!  Sounds intriguing....  And there are tethered balloon rides--that sounds just about perfect for The List.  Huh.  On Friday, I asked my group of friends (The Squad) if they were interested in going on Sunday, and they were also intrigued.  But, I discovered, the rides are only given on Friday and Saturday night.  Between 6:00 and 9:00.  And they only go up between 25 and 75 feet.  Hmmm.  Last minute trip?  Kiddie-sized balloon ride?  Not entirely sure this adventure is Squad-worthy.  But there IS a balloonfest coming up in October--maybe that one would be more epic.  We all agreed that we'd try again in October.

Case closed.  Bummer.

But then!  Mom called and said she and Dad wanted come with me if we went on Friday, and I couldn't say no to a Hickman family trip--even though the exhaustion was REAL.  I rearranged my Friday evening nail appointments, fed the kitties in a flurry, and we made our way to Centralia!  We plugged in the address to the GPS lady, and we were off--I was hoping this adventure would prove to be fun enough to invite Squad to in October (and maybe Jen could come, too??), and also hoping to get some great pics.

When we arrived, winding through the back streets of Centralia, there was some confusion.  The parking area was a *bit* of a hike from the actual balloons, and we didn't see any balloons anywhere, even as we approached the lake.  There were tons of vendor tents--where I would later buy a lovely necklace with my name on it--but stillno balloons.  Starting to feel like Candid Camera victims, we wound around the tents until we found it!  The tethered balloon!  We paid the lady at the ticket tent and got in line.  Take a look!

It's filled up!  Ready to go!

We're across from this guy....

Gah!  A big bunch of them took off while we were in the basket! 

Looking up into the inside of the balloon.  It's HOT in there....

Great time already!  The rides were $10, and I would totally do it again.

This guy was our captain!  Pilot?  Driver?  Dude who unleashed the fire!

Novelty balloons....

Funnel cake with Dad

And then it was nighttime, and the balloons GLOWED.  

And the bottom line is, we had a great time, we three, and I will definitely do this again.  I took the nighttime pictures with my phone--my camera wanted to lighten the sky, and it was really irritating.  I need to figure out nighttime settings on my camera and get the money shot with it next time. Photography, funnel cake, and heights--great reasons to gather the troops and go have an adventure!