Mother Nature decided to ‘sneeze” and we have some shift in the surface winds so I call for our west site today. The weather has shifted a bit with the sunrise being just beautiful and clear skies are here again. We have a family today with Mom having a Birthday and we will provide the party. We get the balloon out and start the set up and when its full of air we add the passengers and are off the parking lot and on our way. The winds are out of the west this morning and are very light so we cross Wallace road and will head toward the river and then into downtown. We slip over the river and I call the tower to get cleared for a “practice water landing” and we get our feet wet before we leave. We skirt across the bridges and move toward several good LZ’s as the hour is closing in on us. Mother Nature decides to “play” with us a bit and the breeze becomes VERY VARIBLE as I spend the better part of an hour trying to get to a spot to park. I finally have a shot at the cemetery and after using the top of a tree to “bounce” into it we are back on the ground. We get the balloon deflated and in the bag, load up and head back to the park for the picnic.
I get the story started, the toast is done and the certificates are presented.
PASSENGER COMMENTS: Robyn: “Today I turned 40, flew like a bird, hit a tree and simply had the best Birthday a girl could have. Thank you for a one of a kind experience.” David: “What a great view of Salem! I loved the water landing even though our feet got a little wet. I had a tremendous time!” Peyton: “PeYton (and her tree drawing)”