By: Callie McLaughlin

Today was an incredible day! We started our day at about 5:15 a.m. We had to be present at the balloon place named Raindow Ryders. When we arrived we all signed a waiver and were assigned to a pilot. Our pilots name was Alfrod. There were 12 people in total in our group, and 1 pilot in each balloon. After they went over all the rules we got into vans and drove to the field were we would take off. Getting the balloons set up was super cool! The workers at Raindow Ryders took the balloons, which were in a big bag, and pulled them out onto the ground. After all the balloons were set on the ground my dad and another guy we met were picked to hold the balloon open while two fans blew the whole balloon up. Our entire family and many others were fasinated to see the two small fans blow the balloon up. After the balloons were all blown up the pilots started to blow hot air from a burner into the balloon. Dad was still holding the balloon open when the burner was running and he said it immediately got a lot warmer. The hot air is what makes the balloons stand up, so when the balloons were standing straight up we all knew it was time to take off. The pilot had us all climb in one by one until all 12 of us were in the huge balloon. Alfrod started to apply more hot air and we slowly lifted off the ground. We were all a little nervous until we got up to about 400 feet and after 10 or so minutes everybody was comforatable in the hot air balloon. The view was spectacular! We could see miles of New Mexico. The ride lasted about one hour and it was the most beautiful hour so far on this trip! When it was time to land we had to get in the landing position, which was that we had to squat and lean back in the basket and hold onto the handles. They landing was very easy and the pilot and the chase crew did a great job to get us onto the ground. In case you were wondering what a chase crew was, it is a group of people that basicly ride all around town chasing after the balloon. They help the balloon land smoothly and pack the balloon up. While they were packing up the balloon we saw another balloon from another company fly by and their basket was tilting and the balloon was ripped. We asked Alfrod what was going on and he said that he had no idea why the basket was leaning and why the ballon was ripped. He thought maybe the balloon ripped in the air from the hot air. After we saw this we all got in a van and drove to a park were the adults had Mimosas and the kids had juice and after this we drove back to the Raindow Ryders building, then we left. We drove to the RV park and descesed what we were going to do next. We decided to do a hike.