Saturday, September 26, 2009

Hot Air Balloon Ride over Park City, UT

Jill surprised me with a 2-hour Hot Air Balloon Ride over Park City for my 50th Birthday today!

It was spectacular!

The weather was perfect, the scenery gorgeous, and the fall colors out in all their glory. The company was pretty good as well - thanks Jill!


I can recommend the folks who took care of us. The pilot was professional and experienced, and the ground crew fun, helpful, and friendly.

It took the entire morning - including driving to/from Park City - but a very worthwhile experience. They also use this same balloon to go over Bryce Canyon - I think I just added something else to my list.

I brought along the big Nikon camera to capture some of what we saw and experienced today.
Here are the results:

Prepping the balloon - using fans to blow it up

Now using the propane to get lift into the Balloon

Shadow of the balloon just taking off

The Honda Element and the Chase Vehicle

The town of Park City, UT - home of the 2002 Olympics

My beautiful wife looking at the scenery

Colorful Fall Foliage

Looking down at another balloon - and the Cell Tower hill in Park City

Can you spot the plane flying below us?

Soccer players warming up in the early morning light

Coming close to the ground to observe wildlife

We saw this Coyote from the Balloon

Herd of Elk

Other Balloon above Park City

Coming into land in the sagebrush east of Park City near I-80

Down on the ground

Our outfitters

Deer Creek Reservoir and the back side of Timpanogos

Back side of Mt. Timpanogos with Fall Foliage

The front side of Mt. Timpanogos from our front yard

Our Front Yard in the Fall when we returned home

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awesome pictures! The colors of nature are such a blessing! Also, the soccer field pic is amazing. Thank you for sharing.

Caitlin said...

Thanks for sharing. What a great bday gift. THat and Shakespeare. Awesome gifts for the big 50!
The pics made me homesick.

Caitlin said...

oops, that's supposed to be Laura...

Karrissa Winward said...

Happy Birthday Daddy!! I am glad you enjoyed the day!

Richard B said...

Those are great photo's. Great color in nature this time of year. Glad you enjoyed your 50th with some fun outings with the wife. Love ya....

Amberlin Gefrom said...

:-( I am (still) homesick..really missing fall and the beautiful leaves. Seeing those pictures made me almost tear up...ha! I guess the grass is always greener on the other side right? Anyways that sounds like it was an awesome birthday gift..how awesome!

Posie said...

The very first time I flew was in a Cessna, and I shared the sky with a few hot air balloons. They always seemed magical after that. Happy Birthday!