Last Chance

Posted on October 5, 2012October 5, 2012 by Dusty Roads

Friday was too windy, Saturday was a wash out with heavy rains. Only one more chance to get those hot air balloons in the air. I am starting to feel like Goldilocks…one was too hot, one was too cold…will Sunday be “just right?

Two launches are scheduled, a dawn launch at the Warren County Airport billed as “Walter’s Mass Ascension”, a simultaneous flight of 100+ balloons including “The World’s Largest Inflated Petting Zoo” and The closing ceremony at Crandall Park , Glens Falls with a launch of 20+ balloons.

Certainly I wanted the 100+ balloons. Sandy and I headed to bed Saturday with our fingers crossed.

It was early. It was dark. I listened closely. I didn’t hear the pitter pat of rain. I didn’t hear any sounds of wind blowing. A gentle tap on my door let me know that Sandy was up and it was time to rise and shine if we were going to make it to the airport.

Once again the parking pass allowed us to slip right into the airport and into a parking slot. We joined the throngs of people making their way through the damp, dew covered grass to the airport entrance.

Vendors were open already and breakfast was being served near the hangar. There’s something about the pre-dawn hours that seems to magnify everything from sights to sounds to smells.

We made our way to the same area we’d visited on Friday. There were more balloons spread out now and we could walk among them. There are no restraints or barriers.

The air was cool , skies clear and wonder of wonders…no wind! It wasn’t long before we heard the whoosh of hot gasses and balloons that had been lying flat began to rise from the ground like sleeping giants.

The filling process takes quite a few minutes but then one brightly colored balloon was off and in the air, soon another followed and then they were taking off in bunches.

We saw baskets beneath the balloons and some with only a chair for the operator.

There was a monster/alien balloon and a “United Nations” balloon covered with flags from around the world.

Over near the vendors the “Petting Zoo” was taking shape..a butterfly

a crab…

a rabbit…

and that elusive birthday cake I wanted to get a picture of but wait…it’s T Rex and it looks like he’s making short work of that cake.

As dawn broke on the eastern horizon the untethered balloons filled the air.

I can see the allure of this sport.

Your spirits soar right along with the balloons.

I wanted to clap my hands and cheer but I had the camera in my hands.

As we walked back to the car we wound through the tethered balloons, up close and personal. And then they began to deflate. The chasers were on the way to catch the untethered balloons and collect them when they land.

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Time for breakfast. We headed to the Golden Corral where we were joined by George and Kelly and the Kids. Patrick and Catherine seemed to be wide awake for such an early hour.

My only plans for the rest of the day? Take a nap! 🙂

Scenic Train to North Creek

Posted on October 3, 2012October 3, 2012 by Dusty Roads

OK I have a confession to make before we get started. I don’t know how scenic this train ride was at all. Four of us took the trip, my sister, my mother and my aunt…my mom’s sister-in-law. But let me start at the beginning.

Saturday dawned very gray and overcast. The forecast was for rain and we just hoped it would hold off until we got back home in the afternoon. Everyone met at my sister’s house so we could go to the train station together. Lorna, my Aunt, volunteered to drive because she had the biggest car, an SUV.

The train ride starts in Saratoga, NY and ends in North Creek, NY home of Gore Mountain Ski area. Sandy and I were hoping the foliage would be in high gear but we were about a week too early. As it turned out it didn’t matter anyway. I don’t think anyone spent too much time gazing out the windows. We could call our train ride the Reunion Train. Although we occasionally tried to figure out what river or body of water we were passing, most of the trip up and back was playing “catch up” , reminiscing and just plain having fun chatting. On the trip north the seats faced each other so it made conversation amongst the four of us easy.

When we arrived in North Creek there was a bus to take folks to Gore Mountain if you wanted to ride the gondola to the top of the mountain. That idea got vetoed pretty quickly so we had the option of taking a golf cart up the hill to main street or walking up the hill.

We may have been a band of Senior Citizens but we chose to walk.

North Creek seems to be pretty much the main street and that’s it. We strolled along looking in the windows and checking menus. We had arrived about lunch time. There were lots of tempting menus but we finally settled on Marsha’s. It turned out that it was a good choice. There was that Open Faced Hot Turkey sandwich again! This one was most definitely fresh roasted..delicious. If you get to North Creek you have 3 recommendations for Marsha’s Hot Turkey sandwich!

Lunch over we still had about an hour to kill so we crossed the street to visit a gallery that was located next to a Pizza place with the name of “Pete’s Ahh”. Very creative!

The Gallery was beautiful. So many lovely arts and crafts from photo postcards (very similar to what I do) to paintings, glassware, even clothing. All the items in the shop are on consignment and all of the artists are local. I asked because I thought maybe I could put some of my work in there but they shot that idea down quickly (but nicely). I don’t live in the Adirondacks anymore. They’d take my work if I ever move back.

Near the door on the ceiling were some metal things. I didn’t realize they were pipes. Someone asked what they were and the clerk said “rain”. She walked to the wall and threw a switch and sure enough, it began to “rain” . The pipes followed above a “creek” in the floor where goldfish swim. When the pipes are turned on the water drips slowly like a gentle rain. You walk over the bridges to get to different parts of the shop.

As we left the gallery the rain that had been threatening outside began to come down for real so we headed back to the train station. There was a covered deck with benches and chairs so we settled in to wait for the train.

I didn’t take too long before the train arrived and soon it was all aboard for the return trip to Saratoga. This time the seats were more traditional in rows. We could have sat in a row of 3 with one across the aisle but we chose instead to sit 2 and 2. Sandy and Lorna in the front 2 seats and Mom and me in the 2nd set of seats.

The rain was coming down pretty good now and it was getting very dark for so early in the afternoon. We got back to Saratoga around 6pm and hurried back to Sandy’s so that everyone could scatter to their own homes before the weather got any worse.

Just as Sandy and I were about to address the question of dinner a knock announced the arrival of George and Kelly and the kids. They arrived bearing Pizza..yumm so the question of dinner was solved and I got to enjoy a visit with some more of the family. The 40 balloon “Moon Glow” at the airport was rained out but I had completely forgotten about it anyway.

What a great day with all of the family!

Moonglow and Fireworks

Posted on October 1, 2012October 1, 2012 by Dusty Roads

Traffic is crawling, stop and go,stop and go. Ahead we can see 3 enormous balloons bobbing and weaving. Sometimes they wink out. Sometimes they look like they are about to fall over before we hear the whoosh and see them stand tall again. It seems like we aren’t making much progress. Street parking is out of the question. When we spot a place without a car it’s because there’s a pile of dirt or a boulder blocking the spot.

Pedestrians crossed freely in front of the crawling line of traffic. Inside I was holding my breath waiting for my sister to tell me this was ridiculous.

We’d been at the airport until about 6pm but the wind never died down enough for the hot air balloons to take off. When we left they were just spread out like lovely colored bed spreads.

Our mistake was not coming straight up to Lake George. We detoured over to George and Kelly’s house. We were just going to make a quick stop. As usually happens when you connect with relatives, especially some you don’t see often, you get to visiting and our quick stop turned into 30-40 minutes…just like that! Not that I’m complaining. I enjoyed the visit too.

A half hour drive to Lake George and it was already 7:30. Moonglow was at 8pm according to the published schedule. But if 8pm was the start time, what were we slowly approaching?

Finally we passed the park and the balloons and found a rough parking lot. $6.00 to park . Grabbing camera, tripod and folding chairs we headed back in the direction we’d just come along with a steady stream of others anxious to see the brightly lit balloons.

To my surprise we easily got in the front row with plenty of room even with the crowd! I set up as fast as I could in the dark. It was hard to judge where the balloons were in the frame when the lights went out but I did the best I could. A little girl with a glow stick was running around near us. I was pretty sure she was in the frame on some of the pictures but it was hard to tell. I wasn’t going to tell her to stop. She was having way too much fun!

Blue Light Trails from Glow Stick

The balloons were tethered so other than the lights there wasn’t much to see. At about 8pm one of the balloons suddenly began deflating. Then the others began to follow. The show was over! We can only assume there was a misprint on the schedule because it definitely said it was to start at 8..not end. Oh well, at least we got to see a bit of the “Moon glow”.

We headed back to the car to try to beat the rush. I wanted a couple of “night shots” of the lights from the shore reflecting in the lake before we left. When we were almost back to the parking lot I set the tripod back up and began to focus when BANG! the fireworks started.

We stood there on the sidewalk and watched the display of lights fly up into the sky over the lake.

It was a great way to finish up the night. We hustled off to the car before the finale because we just knew the traffic would be bad if we waited. Even with the head start it was still bumper to bumper and “dodge ’em” with the pedestrians. Still I’m really glad we made the effort to go. It was beautiful.