Over York County. May 2022 (photo credit SW)
Hats off to old high school pals SW and BC for posting to FB a glorious set of photos of their balloon ride over our home turf. People may think it would be difficult to make me feel envious, but on this count, I admit to being fully green. What an amazing experience!!
When I was in elementary school my Mom drove us up to the airport in Maytown, Lancaster County where we took a light plane ride over the Susquehanna River and even our house. I still remember how thrilling it was to see my own house from the air! I was too young to appreciate flying over our beautiful little corner of Pennsylvania, but the memory stuck. I hoped to repeat it one day, but to date have never gotten around to it. A hearty thanks to my Mom, too, for treating me to something fairly unusual in its time. We often talked about it years later, but I never asked her WHY? What got in her head to drive to Maytown, get in a small plane, and fly over our house? Whatever the reason, I remain grateful.
A few years later in "boring York County where nothing ever happened", I was in the backyard and heard a strange noise. I looked up to see a hot air balloon descending into the fields behind our house. I was maybe 11 or 12 and was both excited and dumbstruck. I ran inside the house and literally babbled gibberish to my parents. They had never seen me that excited. I just told them to come out and see it. There in the field below the house, a hot air balloon had landed. Even today, it would be a strange site, but back in the mid 70's it was downright amazing. My father went down to the balloon (I stayed behind. I have no idea why) and returned to say they had put down unexpectedly and were waiting for their truck to catch up and find them. That memory was burned into my young head - the day a hot air balloon literally landed in my backyard.
How exciting then was it to see a series of photos from two old high school friends (who themselves are old friends) that took a hot air balloon ride over the place we all grew up. SW and BC, thanks for making my day and making me realize you don't have to go halfway around the globe to find a spectacular adventure!!