What better to do when you're awaiting the start of the chase than to check the cloud formations, or perhaps a beautiful Queen Anne's lace growing alongside the parking lot of the place you hope to catch sight of ...... wait, what's that you hear? Not the air-conditioning system of the building you're parked next to, nor a truckload of lions roaring. Yet, the sound is familiar and it's growing louder by the moment.
And then, between the trees you see it. Well, in this case it was HWNSNBP who saw it first. They call it the hare and given the sound you heard, the hounds are not far behind. But..........they are not coming in your direction. So you jump back in the car and try to make a calculated guess of which road to take to catch sight of the pack.
And if you're lucky enough in your guessing, you can catch up to the pack and hopefully find a place to pull over despite the numerous EMERGENCY NO PARKING signs along all the roads leading to the starting point that everyone else seems to be disregarding. It helps when you live in the town and know some of the side roads and also that you not block any driveways or other people's views while you're watching the spectacle before you.
While some of them go up and continue on for a while, some of them don't get very far and look for any open field or yard to land in.
They might even fly over your head.
And it always comes in handy to have someone behind you to hold you up as you're trying to take a picture straight up in the air.
Those characters can get silly sometimes
and just plain make you happy that you got up earlier than you had to on a Saturday morning to take part in the chase.
And then you might pull up the driveway to find this..........
GORGEOUS Lorraine!!!!! That must have been SPECTACULAR in person!!!! Thanks so much for sharing the experience!!!!
ReplyDeleteOh, I remember these being in Bloomsburg--they changed the name of the town to Ballonsburg! That was way back a long time ago! Your photos are wonderful!
ReplyDeleteFabulous photos. I really love the one where you are looking straight up at the balloon. Love the Queen Anne's lace. Hope you have a blessed day.
ReplyDeleteWonderful photos . . . I have been on the ground when they lift off - but this looks much more fun.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've ever seen more than about 6 hot-air balloons together, and that was in France. What a lovely experience that must have been. Your cloud photo while waiting is almost like reflections in a glass or still water.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you would prefer not to have the deer in your garden, but that too is a lovely photo. For me it always rather spoils the ones I can take that all the deer have tags in their ears!