Trip to Des Moines

Thursday evening was too breezy for most of the balloonists so we had only a few balloons up and fewer for the glow Thursday night. We had some rain showers this morning so Friday mornings flight was cancelled and we slept in. We took a drive up to Des Moines and visited Walnut State Park and then the state capital.

It's a beautiful building it has 29 different marbles inside and it's famous gold dome.

Dome

Library

The winds were too strong for a flight tonight, but we had a blues band and Heart of Iowa Wine Trail Festival on the balloon grounds so we had a good time listening to the music and tasting Iowa wines which are very good.

We tasted from 15 wineries in the area around Des Moines.

We also tried Grimes sweetcorn this afternoon, it is really good our neighbor here told us about it.

Birthday Ride

Wednesday evening was perfect for the balloon flight and glow.

The crowd was huge again and since there was so little wind the spectators were allowed to walk among the balloons during the glow. Today is Ken's birthday, and he decided to take the opportunity and go up in a balloon for this occasion.

(We both went up this morning, it was another perfect day for a flight.)
He's heading to the field where the balloons are laid out already.

A little preboarding for those who can't climb over the basket, the balloon is being filled with hot air too. This basket carries 14 people and it was full this morning.

We are up, up and away!!!!

So smooth it's like we are hardly moving at all.

See our RV down there??

This is our pilot, Andy Williams and the fellow with the beard is his father who taught Andy how to fly so we are in very good hands today.

We got up to a mile high, we can watch the other balloons try for the three targets, one in the balloon field, one in a school parking lot and another in a farmers pasture.

Ken's really enjoying himself!

Our shadow.

We land in a farmers pasture which they get permission first and then the crew comes and takes the balloon down and packs it up.

There was a couple age 75 with us this morning!

Back on the ground with our certificate of flight and glass of champagne.

What a way to celebrate a birthday!!!

more balloons

Tuesday evening was a bit breezy so we had only a few balloons flying, it is up to the pilots if they want to fly in 10 to 12 mile wind, any more than that it would be cancelled.I like the moon shots!!
Wednesday morning was PERFECT for the balloonists.

Another oops, too much concentration on the baggie toss??

He kept on flying, the small fire is out here.

Morning shadows, almost as neat as moon photos.

Wednesday afternoon diversion!!!

More tomorrow.........

News from Balloon Fest

Monday evening flight was beautiful, lite breezes so the balloons moved slowly by.

We had 50 launch from the site for the hare and hound and 50 come in to drop their baggies on a target.
This morning there was a very squirrelly light breeze, it took the pilots 2 hours to get to the target to drop their baggies. One pilot was able to drop go up for a bit come back and drop again 4 times that is how squirrelly the wind was.

One pilot had a little trouble, he lost his glasses when he dropped his baggie on the target and he lost his bearings and ended fouled up in this telephone pole.

He was not hurt but it took a hour or so to get it down.

We just saw the news about the entanglement and Ken and mine backsides were on TV, not a pretty view.

Let's hope for a safe and gentle flight tonight.

A mornings diversion

The last couple of balloon flights had been cancelled because of wind and last night we had some rain, so this morning we slept in.

After breakfast at the golden arches we went to Milo to look for the round barn, just a short drive south.From there we went to Annett Nature Center, this is a sculpture of a bison looks real here.

We ran into a volunteer and he told us that they let down the bars.
Just down the road the park is reintroducing ospreys to the area, they have built a tower and brought down 5 ospreys young from MN and today they opened up the tower so they could be free.
Two left the nest this morning he told us and three were still there which you could watch on a TV cam from in side the center.

Here's the tower, we could hear the babes in the tower as we walked past.

Here's one that left the nest, we didn't see the other one. It was neat just to get to see one!

Ken probably got a better photo.

A poster from inside the center.

We've been doing a little bird watching, and looking for butterflies, the ditches here are usually left alone and are filled with wildflowers. There are Goldfinches everywhere and Purple Martins so even without the balloons flying we are finding other beautiful flying creatures to watch and photogragh.

On the way back this afternoon, Ken bought some farm fresh picked peaches and cream corn.

He has decided IA sweetcorn is the BEST.

The winds have gentled this afternoon and of course the temp went up too, it's in the 90's.

Maybe we'll have a balloon flight this evening.

More later from Indianola

More balloons

Saturdays morning balloon flight was cancelled because of the winds but the parade was on.

These two have their bags ready and waiting to be filled with candy. The winds were a bit breezy but the mass ascension was finally given a go later in the evening but first the novelty helium cluster balloon went up.
No basket for him, to get down he lets a balloon or two fly.

The balloon rides are full, the basket holds 12 people.

The field was full and the crowd huge, they estimated 8,000 people came.

The the evening was topped off with fireworks.

This morning was perfect, a little breezy but the games were on.

I was hoping to get a few more balloons over the RV but the winds weren't right.

More from Indianola tomorrow.

First Night

We made it to Indianola and are parked in the grass lot by the balloon field we have a great view. There are maybe 10 RVs here so far, it's $5 a night for dry camping but it beats fighting the traffic and the drive we did last year. The balloons went right over our spot tonight. It was too windy for most of the balloons to get this close to their target and no one won the $250 for knocking over the outhouse.

Because of the wind many of the balloons decided not to do the night glow, but there was a big crowd to watch. We visited with a couple from Dayton, Ohio and another avid photographer from Albia, IA who was taking pics for the local paper he is also working on a book about an old church in Georgetown.

More later from Indianola