Local Balloon Festival

Dad and I went to the balloon festival and fair, last weekend. The horse pulling (as always) was the highlight. A brief flurry of excitement occured when a helicopter landed in the baseball field, and they annouced that there would be helicopter rides. Followed, immediately, by an announcement that there would not be helicopter rides that night, or the next day, or the day after that. As a matter of fact, you will never ride in a helicopter, or ever see one again. Apparently somebody forgot to get FAA clearance and permits. It was darned near more exciting than a helicopter ride.

Dad and I looked into the price of balloon rides, and at a $175.00/person, we decided we'd rather have a $0.99 photograph (cost of the film for my digital camera printer) from the ground. However, as a matter of fact the balloons didn't go up the day we were there, because the wind wasn't blowing in the right direction. Looks like somebody screwed up with the National Weather Service, again.

But, the next night, while Dad and I were on our way to pick up pizza, we caught the final balloon lift off of the festival. Dad took the great picture posted above. You just have to love small-town America.