one for smilie ..

[d3athm3talh3ad]

there's a balloon classic every year in memorial park in colorado springs, colorado...i remember back when i was little and we'd just moved there...heard the wooosh noise from in the house and didn't know what it was, then my parents said to come out and look, there was a balloon floating only a couple hundred feet over the house...they were close enough we could shout hello and wave to them...the wind that day had blown most of the balloons over our house...

we had gone to the event a couple other times, there was a smilie face balloon there a couple times...the balloon glow in the evenings were a sight to behold!!

[SoCalli V8]

It`s an awesome experience to ride in a balloon, and I recommend that everyone try it, because the feeling and the memory will certainly stick in your mind.... I loved it, what a "rush"....

[Smiliesafari]

Hey Gwen.........The Colorado Springs event is rated one of the top 100 events in the country. I haven't done that one but I have flown in the mountains. I did commercial flights for 3 months in Breckenridge. They're the most awesome flights ever. Actually had a helicopter retrieve the balloon once. I landed on the ridge of the mountain that the Eisenhower Tunnel goes thru. Had three passengers. Took all day to hike out.
Hey Darren........The rush never ends for us adventure freaks !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[d3athm3talh3ad]

you sure can end up in some very remote locations in the mountains...sounds like you were very lucky to get back out of there, the weather changes so fast...last time i was home, it was 70 degrees at 2:00pm and by 5:30pm it was snowing, this on june 1st!!

i've never been brave enough to ride in one, as i don't like heights...but i sure can see the attraction...i'm sure the views are breathtaking...maybe one day i'll be able to get over my fear and go for a ride, right now i'm doing good to get past the 4th rung on a ladder...

[crash]

this took off from my backyard about 10min ago... literally, the chainlink fence is my backyard.. LOL

[Smiliesafari]

Thanks, Rob. Re Max has the largest fleet of balloons in the world. At last count it totaled 55. I know the ReMax gang here in Florida. Did you get a ride?

[crash]

a ride? lol.. hell no. after i saw how fast they went up, there's no way i'm setting foot in a basket. call me chicken. i've been up in various single engine planes and had around 30 glider flights... something about no wings and going almost straight up ... eeshhh. i think because straight up usually means straight down.

it was funny though, it seemed it was a husband and wife taking a ride and all the way up you could hear him talking.. 'if i don't make it back..' etc etc LOL

[Smiliesafari]

Oh....I wouldn't call you a chicken. There's a whole lot more people killed in plane crashes than in hotair balloons. There's less than a dozen serious balloon accidents in a year in the entire world. If you get the opportunity don't turn it down. I know you like flying.