Saturday, June 13, 2009

A Balloon Ride


Carly and I asleep at 5:30 am on the way to the balloon ride.

Me about to hand over more money than I've ever spent before in my life.

The hot air balloons waking up!

Our captain, bright eyed and bussy tailed, despite the early hour.

Blase, Carly, and I (the three who went) looking extremely happy and excited to be up in the air.
The view as the sun rose.

The road we would drive down later that day.

A moon and a ballooon.

Me, with the ground far below.

The sunrise.

The valley full of balloons.
Balloons and hoodoos.

They think they're stealthy (like the cruise ship that tried to sneak up on mom and dad), but I know they're there!

We're so high!

The valley of hoodoos.

Landing on a truck!

The guy who jumped on to make us weigh more! There were 3 of them...

Taking the balloons down.

Champaign to cellebrate a successful flight. (Alcohol before breakfast, oh my!)

On the last morning of the trip, Blase, Carly, and I, accompanied by the guide, set out to take an epic balloon ride over the hoodoos in Cappadocia. Though it cost an arm and a leg, we deemed it worth every penny.

We left the hotel at four or five in the morning and headed out to a big empty feild wehere hot air balloons were slowly waking up. We climbed aboard one with a female pilot and set off for an hour-long float around the area.

It's important to note that although hot air balloons may seem peaceful and quiet from the ground, the fire used to heat the air inside the balloon is REALLY loud and often unexpected, since as soon as the deafaning sound stops, you go back to marveling at the beautiful view and forget the fire just in time for it to start up again.

When we landed, after taking about a thousand pictures between the three of us, we were invited to toast to our successful flight and drank champaigne standing in a field of flowers as the air was let out of balloons and they collapsed with a graceful whispering sound all around us. It was epic.

We made it back to the hotel in time to gobble down a quick breakfast before we set out to drive to the Rotary District Conference in Antalya!

-Maeghan

5 comments:

Linda said...

I have caught up once again! So if you're bored enough, you may read the long comment to your long blog from before.

Lucky girl! I love the photo with the balloons and the hoodoos (which are fascinating).

laura said...

Ok, you are so lucky! I have wanted to go up in a balloon since pretty much forever. Apparently I had the chance once, when I was like, four, but was too scared. But I was four. It happens.
It sounds like so much fun! Love your pictures!
I CANNOT WAIT UNTIL YOU GET BACK!!!!!

Kathleen said...

THIS IS SO COOL. I always think I would like to go in a balloon, but maybe I would be too scared! I don't know! I am reading a book about a balloon. Anyway, SWEET.

Anonymous said...

At least costing you an arm and a leg would make the balloons lighter...

EmilyRose said...

Those are some breath taking photos there!! Absolutely beautiful.