Balloon Ride

I have a somewhat repressable fear of heights. It does not make any sense at all. I don't have too much trouble throwing myself off a 30 foot high waterfall, but I get very nervous standing on the lip of a thirty foot high cliff.

So with much trepidation I decided to surprise my girlfriend, Mandy, with a hot air balloon ride over the countryside surrounding Charlottesville, Virginia. Quite wisely I booked the afternoon flight, since I can't see much fun in getting up at the crack of dawn for much any reason.

Once above about 100 feet my nerves calmed down and we were able to really enjoy the ride. We say numerous white tail deer, scared lots of dogs and got to see the foliage just starting to bud out from above. With the late evening sun hitting the small fragile leaves, they seemed to shimmer and glow as we drifter above.