Hot Air Balloon Journey
The first time I saw a Hot Air Balloon was in the movie The Wizard of Oz. As a child, I was mesmerized. As an adult, it is just magical to watch them and to participate in an actual Hot Air Balloon Journey. It’s not about the destination in a Hot Air Balloon but rather in the Journey itself. Life slows down as you glide upwards and downwards with the wind.
Life comes to a standstill as you look over the basket at the world below. It is peaceful. The air around you is silent. The excitement of the ascension subsides and you realize the air is so still and that you have become a part of the sky. As you settle in looking below you observe the earth in a whole new way. You’re experiencing the tiniest of details of its landscape. Your initial fears, if any, are gone.
Sigh….As you know from the fundamentals of gravity, what goes up must come down. Your journey is coming to an end. You are about to descend. Safety first. Pilot instructions for landing and then before you know it, you are on the ground celebrating the journey with a champagne toast and new friends from your shared Journey.
You have just experienced the extraordinary. You have just created a memory and have a sense of accomplishment unlike any other. It’s no wonder why I continue to photograph these magnificent and colorful balloons in different places and landscapes.
Balloonists Prayer
The Winds have Welcomed you with softness.
The Sun has blessed you with his warm hands.
You have flown so high and so well,
that God has joined you in your laughter,
And He has set you gently back again
into the loving arms of Mother Earth.
Author Unknown
Walt Rudy ~ Owner and Chief Pilot ~ Aloft Horizons ~ My first Hot Air Balloon Journey ~ Letchworth State Park ‘24
Quechee Balloon Festival ‘24 ~ Rhode Island Pilot and Balloon!