Up, Up, and Away

One of the events that popped up in my Facebook feed was Summer Fun in the Park -- Flight Night. It was going to be at Darboy Community Park which is down the road from me and it would feature hot air balloons. It was August 10 when the hubby was in Massachusetts. I really wanted to check it out. Danielle said she was interested and we decided to go together.

Parking was a little bit of a nightmare. People were parked on all the side roads near the park. We tried to park down a side street and gave up. I got the brilliant idea of parking at the school and walking over. That’s where I parked for the chicken chase last year. Hardly anyone was parked at the school and it was a nice easy walk on the bike path to the park.

When we got to the park, I expected to see the hot air balloons inflated and people wandering around looking at them. It said it went from 5-7:30. We got there about 6 and none of the hot air balloons were inflated. There were some kid’s activities going on such as bouncy houses and a barrel train.

We found a spot under a shady tree…okay more like under the shadow of a small tree but it at least it was in the shade. We couldn’t have been there more than 15-20 minutes when they started to inflate the balloons. The balloons took about at least 15-20 minutes to inflate. It was a cool process to watch. I didn’t realize it took so long or how many people were involved on getting a balloon off the ground.

Once the balloon was inflated it lifted off. It took a little while to get all four balloons in the sky but they all were aloft before 7:00 PM. I am not sure if they were going to land back at Darboy Community Park or USA Sports Complex, another spot for balloonists. We didn’t stick around to find out.

It was a fun evening. I am glad we didn’t decide to get there right at 5. We probably would have left thinking this thing was a bust. Now one day, I will have to experience a hot air balloon ride.