Balloon Fest

Aaron and I didn't really have plans for the weekend - some vague idea of both of us making a list of five things and then seeing what matched. I never made said list, but Aaron did, so I wonder if we did anything on it?

On Friday morning, I was talking to Mom, Karrie, and Aaron on chat while inputting grades into my online gradebook. Mom mentioned a balloon festival that she went to before and it was pretty close to where Aaron lives - so while I had him on chat decided to do that. I wasn't planning on heading to Aaron's before that (he was heading here) so after work I went home, packed a bag, and drove up to Culpeper.

We have eaten a lot of places in Culpeper, but there really are a lot to choose from and we have it seems, tons left to go. Mom had said there might be leftover bbq I could have, but there wasn't, and bbq still sounded good, so we headed to a sandwich-bbq-bar place on a side street we had parked near recently. I think it's called the Stable and it is definitely worth a visit. It is a nice bar with the biggest meatiest sandwiches ever. I don't know how we finished them because we both thought we were done after half, but there wasn't much left when we were finished. We went back to Aaron's and watched a BBC program about a dude who decides to build a real house out of legos where all the walls and everything in the house (including the sink and toilet) was made of legos (except the frame because in their time constraints they couldn't get a frame that would support a two story lego house).

Whatever time the alarm went off was too early and it was still dark. We poured to coffee into travel mugs and headed out the door. The balloon festival was about half an hour from Aaron's house and the sun came up while we were en route. We got there and there was nothing going on. Apparently balloons cannot go up in the fog? It is a mystery to me why this is so. But after the release of a ceremonial purple helium balloon business began. The website said they were to launch between 6 and 7, but I guess it is dependent on the conditions.

Around 8 things start to get going. People drive vehicles with trailers onto the field, unpack baskets, and start unfurling balloons into long bulky bundles. Two people set up right in front of our lawn chairs so we had an excellent view.

First they blow the balloons up with big fans and the balloons get bigger and bigger, but are still laying on the ground. People walk all around them and under them pulling them and making sure they fill properly. Then they gas it and heat these huge balloons for what seems like 15 seconds and the balloons pop upright. Look at this photo I got - if you look closely you can see the heat and you can tell the balloon is starting to lift. A little more heat and the balloons are in the air.

All told I think there were 14 or so balloons in the air when we left. Most launched there, but some were coming from other places nearby. Most were the kinds of balloons I imagine - wicker basket with big multi-colored balloon. Some of them were like ski lift chair backpacks and the burner was in the backpack. And we learned that some of the balloons were experimental in basket, burner, or fabric design. You couldn't ride in an experimental balloon, but you could pay 200 bucks to go up in one of the others (yeah right).

I'm not sure what time we left, but balloons were in the air, coming down, going back up, and all over the sky. There were also biplanes and some weird paragliding with a backpack engine things buzzing around. It was neat because they were kind of everywhere. We stopped by Aaron's school so he could get a few last minute things done before his first day of school on Monday and I checked out the clandestine photo of myself (he hung it up) in the lava tube hanging on the wall. Apparently this is what people will see if they ever ask Aaron if he has a girlfriend.

We went to Frost for breakfast and then went home. We were both asleep within minutes (I think this was around 10-1030am). Around 1:30 I woke up to go to the bathroom, told Aaron we should probably get up, Aaron agreed, and we both went back to sleep. At 300 I woke up. Aaron sort of woke up, but fell back asleep while I was talking to him. I knew it becuase I threatened him with a rasberry and he made no response.

Eventually we got up and got moving and headed to my apartment. I made pizzas for dinner and was going to make cobbler, but I couldn't find the recipe, so I made a blackberry pie instead. Aaron and I played cribbage and rummy and still went to bed early - even after napping for 5 hours in the middle of the day - we must have been tired.