[Ad- gifted experience] Growing up in the Adirondacks, I have always seen balloons floating about, over the mountains. Dann and I have also taken our children to a few different balloon festivals in the United Kingdom, including the Bristol International Balloon Fiesta, but none of us have ever ridden in the basket of a hot air balloon that has left the ground. So, Dann and I were extremely excited to get a private tour of the beautiful mountain tops in a hot air balloon with Sunkiss Ballooning.
Sunkiss Ballooning market themselves as a sort of grand, bucket list event – a once-in-a-lifetime experience that you should try. However, we went in the sort of spring off season, when the trees aren’t at their peak of color, when the mountains aren’t lush or covered in snow, so I would say this is something you should do in each of the seasons. I feel going in every season gives you such a better perspective on the landscape and on the world below you. Due to the time in which the weather is perfect for hot air ballooning, you can either go out in the morning, just after sunrise or in the evening, just before sunset.
We decided to go in the evening, where Sunkiss Ballooning showed us all the ways they test to make sure that it’s safe for us to go up in a balloon. They did these ‘fire ball’ launch tests to see where the wind was and made sure to check with weather authorities to make sure there wasn’t any chance of a flash storm. Once these tests had been done, they got the balloon basket that was appropriate for us and started driving us out to some land to set it up.
Three men were there to do most of the lifting and moving, setting up the basket and balloon at record speed. There was a safety briefing, which explained how to act in the air and what they were doing, before the balloon started filling with air thanks to a very big fan. Jessie, who was leading this balloon ride, let us hold open the sides of the balloon as it filled with air (as we were excited to help), making us feel important. We also got a lot of photos as the balloon filled up and the basket was made ready. He then had a little bit of a briefing with the other two who were there, then they told us it was time for us to get into the basket.
Soon enough, Jessie, Dann and I were all up in the air! Jessie was so good at telling us the places nearby, what we were seeing, and talking about the weather. It’s very clear he has a passion for ballooning! The balloon glided well, with him sometimes pumping the flame to add more air to the balloon, as we glide. At the half-hour mark, Jessie started looking around for a place to land and then started our trajectory towards it. When we were landing, we did hit a slip stream of air, but Jessie was very calm and still managed to explain everything and have a successful landing. Sunkiss Ballooning had sent the two people that we met when we started, but didn’t go up in the balloon, to meet us where we were landing (which Jessie arranged through the walkie talkies), so they then quickly deflated the balloon and got it all packed up. We then got in their truck and were returned to the starting area.
Going hot air ballooning was such a fantastic experience. the view from up high was fantastic! The land that we landed on were super excited we were there to and Sunkiss Ballooning gives them a gift card if you land on their property as a thank you, which is for a local store, so that was very nice. It just was a fantastic, professional experience.
You can check out our other Days Out to see what else we’ve been up too!