I heard about the Hudson Hot Air Affair last fall.  Probably on Facebook.  It’s pretty straightforward.  First weekend in February, sports fields of the EP Rock Elementary, tons of hot air balloons.

YA and I planned it all out.  The website scared us a bit about how finding parking would be, so we left the house at 5:30 on Saturday morning to make sure we were there by about 6:15.  This turned out to be jumping the gun.  We easily found a really good parking spot right in front of the elementary school.  Nothing was going on in the dark so we were able to sit in the car for almost a half hour before we ventured out to see the sunrise. It was quite icy on the field and the temperature was in the teens, but there were enough bodies waiting to keep it comfortable.  The launch was scheduled for 7:35 but there were notes on the website as well as a couple of announcements that they would decide right at 7:35 if the winds would allow the launch.  All the balloons were in various states at that point and when they cancelled the launch due to unfavorable winds they said that the balloon teams were going to inflate the balloons but keep them on the ground.  (Turns out that none of the four planned launches happened this year – winds just weren’t in the mood.)

It was an amazing view of all the balloons filling up at once – if you haven’t seen a hot air balloon up close, they are HUGE.  Seeing that many in the same place, all inflating at once was amazing. 

My feet were starting to feel the cold at that point and I suggested to YA that we head to the craft fair (inside the school).  She said we should make one “go around” to see everything before heading in.  You’d think she would know better, wouldn’t you.  An hour later I was still talking to balloon teams.  Name of balloon (Kay’s Windancer, Senorita Sunrise, Late Nite Discussions, Wizardly Dreams), were they the owners/regular team (about 80% owners), where were they last (several had just come from Arizona the week before), how long they’ve been ballooning (most of them over 10 years, one guy 50 years).  As you can imagine, many of them had plenty to say and I was having a great time.  YA finally lured me with “there’s a black lab puppy over near the Remax balloon”.  (Note:  There are over 100 Remax balloons worldwide with four dedicated teams. The others can be leased/operated by Remax realtors and agents.)

The craft fair was OK.  I bought a bottle of local maple syrup.  I liked this year’s t-shirt – not sure what the theme (Skywalkers Return to Ranch) meant but I liked the design but it was a bit much, especially since I already have too many t-shirts.  But we noticed that t-shirts from previous years were only $5.  Maybe we’ll go again next year – hopefully there will be a launch and I can get this year’s shirt for a bargain!

Have you ever been up in a hot air balloon?