Up, Up and Away in My Beautiful Balloon!

It’s 3:45 am and a duck is

Powering up the balloon.

quacking over and over!  Yes it is our alarm going off and no one wants to get up to turn it off.  Even for an early bird this is early.  Well after a few minutes of complaining how early it was we all got up, got dressed and headed outside to wait for our shuttle to take us to our hot air balloon ride.  It felt rather exciting as we neared the drop off point on the outskirts of town.  There was coffee, tea and bread waiting for us as we arrived.  Before we knew it more and more shuttles came dropping off eager tourists.  At first I thought how many people do they put in a basket but then realized there are soo.....many balloons.  As it was they fit 20 people in 4 compartments of the basket with the pilot (as they call themselves) in the middle with the tanks. 

Take off at daybreak.

Needless to say we were all pretty cozy.  Perhaps one of the neatest parts was watching them fill the balloons with the glow of the fire while it was still dark out.  Once loaded into the basket it didn’t take long and we were starting to rise.  It was a  gentle take off and pretty exciting.  We saw some great views of the area and watched the sun rise... breathtaking.  Alyssa was thrilled to have seen a dog and her pups running along a ridge and later a rabbit.  One of the crazy things about the balloon rides is that it has become so popular and with a number of companies operating there are a lot of balloons in the air at the same time.  A couple of times I thought a few were going to collide.  At one point I counted seeing 60 balloons but I am sure I did not get them all.  After about an hour in the air we prepared for our landing.  We had to crouch down facing the same way holding onto some handles inside the basket.  There was a bit of a wind so we were coming in at 15 KMs an hour.  I am not sure how he did it but the pilot made us clear some power lines and landed us in a hole not far off the road.  We landed with a hard thud as we hit the side of the bank.  I think all of our butts were a little soar after that.  I now believe they have us crouch down so we don’t freak out while they land!  After landing they provided us all with champagne (although I don’t believe there was any alcohol in it as they handed it to the kids) to celebrate the flight.  Apparently this is  a tradition since the very first hot air balloon flight.  Lastly we all received certificates and then they asked for tips. 

Above the town of Gerome.

Selfie!

Once back at our accommodation we all decided to go back to bed for a little while.  After a few hours of sleep Kevin, Alyssa and I had some breakfast then decided to head out to the Rose Valley to check out some caves.  Jenna chose to sleep a little longer and hang out in the room. Jenna’s decision was not unexpected as she indicated we returned from our balloon trip well before she is normally out of bed.

The view from the cave of the fairy chimneys.

After seeing the Rose Valley

Alyssa is in the oven, notice the soot darkened ceiling.

by horse we wanted to go back to see if we could find some cave houses.  It was warm but there was also a breeze which made the walk there enjoyable.  The valley is beautiful with lots of trails you can wonder on.  I have to say I really enjoy walking out in areas like this as opposed to walking the streets of a large city.  Alyssa was in her glory checking out every opening we saw.  We were fortunate to find a few multi room caves and Alyssa started planning on how we could camp there if we came back.  We stumbled across an old church inside one of the caves which resembled those in the open air museum.  Perhaps the greatest find was not only a multi room cave but one with 4 levels.  It was kind of fun making our way up each level to be impressed each time.  It felt like being a kid again exploring in the forest except this time it was all rock.  Previously, when we looked at the three small holes high up in fairy chimneys we thought they were holes from a crypt of some sort but it turns out they are pigeon holes that the people made so pigeons could roost there.  Apparently their poop was a valued fertilizer for their gardens so they tried to have a spot in which they could readily obtain this resource.  This made Jenna happy as she was a little creeped out by the other option.

The inside of the multi-level cave.  Notice the five small holes on the right is where the pigeons come in to roost.

Alyssa exploring another cave.

 After a couple of hours exploring we thought it was time to head back and check on Jenna.  On our walk back we ran into quite a few quad tour groups.  We tried to position ourselves with the wind to our backs so that the dust from the quads would not reach us.  For the most part it worked.  Pretty funny though how people with no experience and only a few minutes of orientation are given a machine to drive on their own.  One woman in a  group flipped her quad on a straight stretch as they were slowing down.  Not sure how she did that.  Then we saw another woman who drove into a farmer’s field and stalled her machine while the rest of her group and leader were well ahead of her.  There was no clothing or protective gear requirement which was evident as we saw women in blouses and fancy shorts or skirts and straw hats.  Talk about looking out of place!

When we made it back Jenna was still in bed.  I think she enjoyed the personal time and the quiet of not having us bug her to do something.  After a little lounging on the deck with our books it was time for dinner.   Another great day we won’t forget. 

Climbing up from one level to the next.