There's More Than One Way to Fly!

And here are two methods...Photos from the hot air balloon ride I took with Beth near Portland, and photos from the plane at the start of my long journey home.

First, the mighty gas jets in the balloon basket.

Some vineyards as seen from on high.

Our partner balloon and our shadows - quite neat, huh?

Dinghies in the water - dinghies from the wingies? No - we only felt like we had wings.

Fellow travelers...

We did a maneuver called "Splash and dash" where we touched down on the river and actually floated like a boat for a short time before lifting up again. Apparently only skilled ballooners can do this. Ours was good.

Here is the reflection of a treeline in the river.

The reflections of our balloon and our partner balloon look pretty good, don't they. That's me leaning out of the spiral decorated balloon to take this photo.


This one is a favorite. It's us waving at our reflection in the river.

Here's the basket being righted in preparation for stowing on the truck for the ride back after our flight. OOPS! Lean your head to the left, please, in order to see the correct view.



As counterpoint, here's another way to fly...or not. "Waiting" is what I call this photo. No wonder flights are never on time. Planes need siestas, or maybe they just like to wait in lines.

Flight pattern.

On a wing and a prayer.

And of course, some go - some stay. If you're going anywhere this summer - have fun!


I'll try to post a few more Oregon photos before the fun begins tomorrow and Saturday...Fourth of July weekend!