For Tinka's birthday I took her and her life-long best friend on a hot air balloon ride over Santa Barbara, California, at sunset.
Our pilot was James Lawson, proprietor of Sky's the Limit Ballooning: https://www.skysthelimitballooning.com/
This was the most amazing outdoor experience I have ever encountered. Though traveling at 20 to 30 mph, at between 1000 and 4000 feet above ground, we literally felt like we were standing still -- the flight was that placid.
The experience was utterly ethereal and transcendent. It felt like you were rising part of the way to heaven. It was surreal.
Also, it was an incredibly organic and analog and non-mechanical and non-electronic experience. Only air and fire and wood basket and balloon were involved.
It was so completely quiet up there that when James fired the burner, you could hear the sound of the burner echoing in the canyons miles away.
The pilot must have extremely deep experience to understand, among other thermal and aerodynamic factors, the way the rising and cooling ground affects the wind currents thousands of feet up in the air.
The takeoff and landing can be quite unpredictable and can be quite dramatic, James warned us. Apparently an inexperienced flight team may allow the balloon to go out of control, especially on takeoff. James is one of the very most experienced hot air balloon pilots in the entire world.
This is a highly recommended experience!
Our pilot was James Lawson, proprietor of Sky's the Limit Ballooning: https://www.skysthelimitballooning.com/
This was the most amazing outdoor experience I have ever encountered. Though traveling at 20 to 30 mph, at between 1000 and 4000 feet above ground, we literally felt like we were standing still -- the flight was that placid.
The experience was utterly ethereal and transcendent. It felt like you were rising part of the way to heaven. It was surreal.
Also, it was an incredibly organic and analog and non-mechanical and non-electronic experience. Only air and fire and wood basket and balloon were involved.
It was so completely quiet up there that when James fired the burner, you could hear the sound of the burner echoing in the canyons miles away.
The pilot must have extremely deep experience to understand, among other thermal and aerodynamic factors, the way the rising and cooling ground affects the wind currents thousands of feet up in the air.
The takeoff and landing can be quite unpredictable and can be quite dramatic, James warned us. Apparently an inexperienced flight team may allow the balloon to go out of control, especially on takeoff. James is one of the very most experienced hot air balloon pilots in the entire world.
This is a highly recommended experience!
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