Salmon Tolman Fam: Bucket List Ballooning

I have wanted to ride in a hot air balloon ever since I was a young child. When I was 7 years old, my family lived in Spokane Washington. There was a park down the street from our home, and I can remember standing in my backyard on the weekends in summertime and seeing and hearing hot air balloons being inflated just a block away. It was exciting seeing the progression of each balloon taking shape over the picketed fence that blocked my view of my neighbor's yard. I loved the sight of the balloons gently lifting up and floating away into the sky. It was such a dreamy vision, and I've wanted to ride in one ever since.

When I was hired as a 2nd grade teacher a few years ago, I thought back to what I liked when I was my students' age, and I remembered my hot air balloon experience. I decided to create my classroom theme based on the image of a hot air balloon, and went with the motto "Rise Up", which I've had in my classroom ever since. It's kept hot air balloons in the forefront of my mind!

One of my favorite movies when I was a teenager was called "Speechless" with Geena Davis and Michael Keaton. There's one scene in it where they are at the Albuquerque Hot Air Balloon Festival, and it was then that I decided THAT'S where I would someday fulfill my childhood wish and ride in a hot air balloon. When Josh's brother Malachi and his family moved to Albuquerque 2 years ago, I felt like my childhood dream was finally going to come true! We visited Malachi and Molly last Christmas for their son Caleb's baby blessing, and while we were there, we went to the Hot Air Balloon Museum, and I made future plans to back to Albuquerque this October when the balloon festival happens (and when I'm off school for Spud Harvest Break).

On our way to Albuquerque, we drove through Moab, and I saw a billboard sign for a company named "Canyonlands Ballooning". It sounded like a perfect ballooning experience...and I realized that maybe I would prefer to ride in a balloon over a destination, rather than in a location with a million other people. I decided my vacation in October would include: 1. ballooning over the Canyonlands/Arches National Park area and then 2. driving to Albuquerque to see the balloon festival. That way, I would get to see the hundreds of balloons launch that I've been dreaming about since my teenage years, and also have an incredible ride that I've been hoping for since I was a child.

Riding in a hot air balloon was my #1 item on my "40 Things to Do When I'm 40" list, because I was determined to finally make my dream come true this year! Unfortunately, due to some schedule conflicts, we weren't able to make Albuquerque happen this year after all...and for the best, I think, since the day we were going to go was too windy and they didn't end up having a launch that day, so I would've been highly disappointed anyway. However, I'm not giving up on this part of my dream...I WILL make it there someday to the Albuquerque Balloon Festival!

I scheduled a balloon flight for Josh and I with the Canyonlands Ballooning company a couple months in advance for the date of September 30. It wasn't really Josh's dream to go in one, but he wanted to be there when I achieved my childhood dream, so he was willing to join me, for which I'm so glad! Josh and I drove down to Moab on Sunday the 29th, leaving fresh snowfall in Salmon for the warm fall weather in southern Utah. We spent the night at a hotel in Green River. I slept terribly because I was so excited for the event the following day! We left the cheap hotel on Monday morning at 6:15 and drove to our meeting place north of Arches Park, arriving by 7am.

It was pretty windy that morning, and we learned when we arrived that there was a chance we might have our balloon flight cancelled that day, because if the wind speed is over 5mph, the balloon can't inflate and launch. I was so bummed! Thankfully, part of our group (there were 16 of us that could all fit in the basket!) included a man from the Czech Republic who owns the company that designed and built the balloon that we would be flying in, so the pilot made a valiant effort in finding a good launch spot. It was the only time this man has come ballooning with this company, and he was on his way the following day to the Albuquerque Balloon Festival, so it was the only chance he had to fly with the Canyonlands company, too. If it wasn't for my luck in booking the flight the same day as this man and his family, we most likely would've had our flight cancelled. However, the pilot found a spot in a low valley that we drove to that luckily we could inflate and launch the balloon from.

I loved watching the balloon inflate, just as I did when I was a child. Our group watched the process, and then we climbed aboard the giant basket. It was tethered to the owner's truck until everyone was in, and then the pilot undid the clip and we were off!

It was incredible! The wind dictated where we flew (you only have control over the height, not the direction as you're flying). We flew eastward over the northern part of Arches National Park. I loved the views! It was so tranquil and I enjoyed the ride immensely, as well as Josh! He was originally hesitant about it because he hates heights, but he was so glad he came and said he would even go again!

We rode for about 45 minutes, and because the wind was moving along at 25-30 mph, we were going at a pretty good pace. Our ride covered about 25 miles, and it was tricky to land in the wind. We gripped the handlebars and prepared for the impact as he found a flat enough spot to land. We bent down into the basket when the basket touched ground. Our basket bounced 3 times, then it flipped on its side and dragged for about 250 feet before stopping, which was exciting! The pilot said it was the most exciting landing he's had all year! The balloon maker enjoyed the exhilarating landing, too! We landed about a mile from the nearest dirt road, and the vans tried to follow us as we flew as best as they could, but we had to walk about a half mile in the desert before the vans found us (after driving off road to get us!).

The pilot gave us all champagne (or sparkling cider!) and we toasted a successful ride. The pilot and the balloon maker spoke for a while, which was so informative. There are only 3 companies in the world that make balloons, and they're all overseas. What's impressive about this particular company, is they also make their own fabric that they use in the balloons! On the way back to our original meeting spot, the van driver told us we went the longest distance of any of the flights so far this year! We picked a great day to go!

Josh and I stopped at a roadside gas station-turned-souvenir store at the Arches freeway exit before getting back on the road toward Salmon. We stopped in Ogden on our way back and had dinner with Amanda and Ryan, which was nice. It was a quick trip to achieve this bucket list item, but an unforgettable, incredible, adventurous one, too!

I of course took way more photos and videos than was necessary, but I was a kid on cloud 9... ;)