Balloon Ride!!
Oct. 5th, 2009 05:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wwcitizenVery excited! Last year, my family gave me a balloon ride gift certificate for my 40th birthday. When I got the certificate, I was really excited and tried to plan a date to go, but wasn't able to set any dates because of our travel schedule. Well, even though we're leaving for DC on Friday morning, I set a date (because if I didn't right now, there's no guarantee I'd actually do it) for THIS THURSDAY, Oct. 8!! I cannot wait!!
The place is up in Poughkeepsie, NY, which is about 90 minutes up the Palisades Parkway. Matt is vehemently opposed to the idea.** (See below) The balloon ride facility Blue Sky Balloons looks very good. The guy, Bill Hughes, was very professional and friendly and set me a date right away with other folks who'll be going, too.
Not sure if it'll be the French way of balloon flight (where after the first balloon ride, you get a glass of champagne), so I'll be bringing my own bottle of champagne, much to Matt's chagrin. If you have QuickTime, you can check out the virtual tour from online or download the video, which I did. Check it out!!
WOOHOO!!
** Matt's disclosed that he's not afraid of heights, but that he loves our life together and doesn't want me or him to die from wicker basket failure. I share his love for our life together, but that's not going to stop me doing something I've always wanted to do and to enjoy the excitement of it. And he's not trying to stop me from doing it.
I checked out the balloon meister's (love that term!) credentials. Here they are:
Blue Sky Balloons operates FAA certified balloons by FAA certified pilots & has been providing hot air balloon rides in the Hudson Valley, NY for over 36 years with a perfect safety record. Bill Hughes, a former Navy pilot, with over 9000 hrs of flying (everything from jets to helicopters), has been ballooning since 1970 and even helped Malcolm Forbes in 1973 fly transcontinentally!! Bill Hughes is an FAA-designated Pilot Examiner and Safety Counselor.
So, suffice it to say, I think I've researched the right guy to handle my first hot air balloon ride experience. Matt's not being a dick about it at all, though (as I may have implied); he's expressing his concern: he'd rather me not go, but being the eternal pessimist, he's just worried and has dreaded the prospect of me doing this all this last year. But all will be fine and I'll return having had a wonderful time.
The place is up in Poughkeepsie, NY, which is about 90 minutes up the Palisades Parkway. Matt is vehemently opposed to the idea.** (See below) The balloon ride facility Blue Sky Balloons looks very good. The guy, Bill Hughes, was very professional and friendly and set me a date right away with other folks who'll be going, too.
Not sure if it'll be the French way of balloon flight (where after the first balloon ride, you get a glass of champagne), so I'll be bringing my own bottle of champagne, much to Matt's chagrin. If you have QuickTime, you can check out the virtual tour from online or download the video, which I did. Check it out!!
WOOHOO!!
** Matt's disclosed that he's not afraid of heights, but that he loves our life together and doesn't want me or him to die from wicker basket failure. I share his love for our life together, but that's not going to stop me doing something I've always wanted to do and to enjoy the excitement of it. And he's not trying to stop me from doing it.
I checked out the balloon meister's (love that term!) credentials. Here they are:
Blue Sky Balloons operates FAA certified balloons by FAA certified pilots & has been providing hot air balloon rides in the Hudson Valley, NY for over 36 years with a perfect safety record. Bill Hughes, a former Navy pilot, with over 9000 hrs of flying (everything from jets to helicopters), has been ballooning since 1970 and even helped Malcolm Forbes in 1973 fly transcontinentally!! Bill Hughes is an FAA-designated Pilot Examiner and Safety Counselor.
So, suffice it to say, I think I've researched the right guy to handle my first hot air balloon ride experience. Matt's not being a dick about it at all, though (as I may have implied); he's expressing his concern: he'd rather me not go, but being the eternal pessimist, he's just worried and has dreaded the prospect of me doing this all this last year. But all will be fine and I'll return having had a wonderful time.
