While summer is my favorite season, the fall is be a close second. I love the long warm sunny days of summer, going camping, and of course the drive-ins. Fall brings shorter, cooler days but a beautiful foliage in Upstate New York. It also brings thousands and thousands of people to my home town for the annual Adirondack Balloon Festival.
Thirty-five years ago, the first Balloon Fest was hosted at what was once known as the Warren County Airport. My grandmother lived close by, and woke up to the whooosh sound of the burners in the baskets. Not knowing what the noise was she looked out the window to see a hot air balloon above the yard picking leaves off the top of the tree.
I remember her taking me every year, right up until I was a sophomore in college. We'd get up at 4am and have a quick breakfast of muffins and cereal and rush off trying to beat the traffic to the airport. No matter how early we left, we would be backed up in traffic for miles. We'd talk about how smart the bike riders were, as they would get there well ahead of us, but we were much warmer in the car. She pulled me around the airport in a little red wagon for my first few years, buying me hot chocolate which was a special treat since I wasn't allowed caffeine at that age. Winter coats and mittens were necessary; even though it is held in mid September, the early morning is too brutally cold to walk around in.
It had been 8 years since I attended the event, so I found a group of friends including Sister to go bike riding to the evening balloon launch on Saturday. Though it was uphill both ways, we beat the traffic both in and out of what is now called the Floyd D Bennett Airport. It appeared as though the balloons were not going to launch, possibly due to the wind, but finally one crew inflated their balloon and many more were quick to follow. We returned to where we locked up our bikes to find that someone had cut our locks. Fortunately, our bikes and helmets were not taken. Lesson learned - you can't chain a bike to a fence at an airport apparently. Here is a video I created to summarize the event. Hope you like music from the Cold War era! This is the English version of Nena's "99 Red Balloons," with a video from the festival including the bike ride.
Thirty-five years ago, the first Balloon Fest was hosted at what was once known as the Warren County Airport. My grandmother lived close by, and woke up to the whooosh sound of the burners in the baskets. Not knowing what the noise was she looked out the window to see a hot air balloon above the yard picking leaves off the top of the tree.
I remember her taking me every year, right up until I was a sophomore in college. We'd get up at 4am and have a quick breakfast of muffins and cereal and rush off trying to beat the traffic to the airport. No matter how early we left, we would be backed up in traffic for miles. We'd talk about how smart the bike riders were, as they would get there well ahead of us, but we were much warmer in the car. She pulled me around the airport in a little red wagon for my first few years, buying me hot chocolate which was a special treat since I wasn't allowed caffeine at that age. Winter coats and mittens were necessary; even though it is held in mid September, the early morning is too brutally cold to walk around in.
It had been 8 years since I attended the event, so I found a group of friends including Sister to go bike riding to the evening balloon launch on Saturday. Though it was uphill both ways, we beat the traffic both in and out of what is now called the Floyd D Bennett Airport. It appeared as though the balloons were not going to launch, possibly due to the wind, but finally one crew inflated their balloon and many more were quick to follow. We returned to where we locked up our bikes to find that someone had cut our locks. Fortunately, our bikes and helmets were not taken. Lesson learned - you can't chain a bike to a fence at an airport apparently. Here is a video I created to summarize the event. Hope you like music from the Cold War era! This is the English version of Nena's "99 Red Balloons," with a video from the festival including the bike ride.
Check out my photo set on Flickr.
