Up up and Away in my beautiful my beautiful balloooooon ....

yes, I'm a dork.

A few moons ago it was my anniversary and G got us a hot air balloon ride. I had to book the ride a few weeks out so that I could ask for a Saturday off of work. (yes, I have to book them out about six weeks in advance)

G and I got up at the butt-crack of dawn to head to north Tampa to meet the balloon crews. We were flying with a retired Cost Guard gentleman who does the hot air balloon thing on the weekend for fun. There were 8 other balloon outfits there as well. After deciding which was the wind was blowing, since there wasn't much wind, we headed off to the launch site. We launched from a huge field off of Lutz Lake Fern Road and Hwy 41 with the wind taking us off to the northeast. Since we had a small crew of helpers we were one of the first balloons unloaded, but one of the last ones actually off the ground.

Once up, we had an amazing view of Tampa. The balloons don't fly over the water since it's too dangerous but it was early enough in the morning to watch the sunrise and the fog hover over everything. The balloon is very peaceful, but dang is it hot. G's head was dangerously close to the burner since he was the tallest. Fortunately, our pilot only takes up one couple at a time so you have more room.. so there were only three of us in the basket. Some of the other companies seemed more like tourist attractions and they had almost 12 people in theirs. (no thanks)

We flew over Tampa for almost an hour and then were scanning for places to land. G and I attempted to take some aerial photos, but of course our battery on the camera died. (I forgot to recharge it after the Boston trip) There were a few places near us to land, but one of the major fields had horses in it and the noise from the balloon burners really freak them out, so we veered north some more. We finally found an open field to land in, which turned out to be someone's yard. (oops) Fortunately, the neighbor came over to help us out and direct the chase crew to our landing location. We took out the poor guy's phone line on our landing (double oops) The neighbor informed us that the tenant wasn't home, but that we'd better hurry up and get out of there.. his neighbor has been known to pull out a shotgun on his 12 year old daughter for cutting across his yard. (AHHH! ) We FRANTICALLY packed up the balloon, gave the neighbor who helped us a bottle of champagne, and high tailed it to the park to have breakfast. It did make the trip that much more exciting, I would say.





After the balloon ride, G and I had a whole Saturday together. Holy crap, how did that happen ??! G had his trainer appointment, so I took a nap (hee) .. then we headed off to Green Iguana for their killer hamburgers in Ybor on our way to the movies to see Harry Potter. I thought the movie was "meh" by the way. I liked it, but the books are so much better and more detailed the movies pale in comparison.

Remember that yummy soul food restaurant I went to with my friend on Thursday? Well, four hours later I was horridly nauseated which last for the next THREE DAYS!!! It was awful. Fortunately, I got better in time for the balloon ride, but started feeling worse half way through Harry Potter. (which maybe it why I didn't follow the ending too well, since I was trying not to lose my hamburger) I'm back to normal now and even managed to run with G tonight.