The Great Prosser Balloon Rally

I did it! This is our SIXTH September living in the Yakima Valley, and I finally went to the Prosser Balloon Rally sunrise launch yesterday morning. For three of the Septembers we've been here, I was too sick and pregnant to care about going to the launch. And last year I was too sleep deprived from baby Amber to care about going. So technically there was only one year that I missed the rally for no good reason. My local friends tell me that the past five years haven't even been that great for balloon launching--rain, clouds, and wind have hampered the launch. Well yesterday, I braved it all and finally WENT. Jeff had a fever and Jay had a headache, so I almost stayed home and waited for a year that we could all go together, but I'm so glad I went anyways. It was SO COOL.

Saturday morning I got up at 6am and somehow all three kids were still asleep! After a brief internal struggle, (it goes waaay against the grain to wake up a sleeping child, especially before 7am), I woke Jay up and asked if he wanted to go see the balloons. Sadly, he wasn't feeling well and decided to stay home (this sickness--however mild--is slow-burning and lingering!). Next I crept into the girls' room, half expecting Rose to finally have come down with the dread fever and headache that everyone else but me has had or currently has. But when I asked Rose if she wanted to go, and she popped right up out of bed all excited for an adventure. Of course Amber woke up when I was in the girls' room, so she came too. Leaving our feverish menfolk behind, us girls bundled into the van and drove the 15 minutes east to Prosser. The sun was rising and I was worried that we had missed the launch, because it is called the sunrise balloon launch after all. But when we arrived around 6:40am, the balloons were all still lying deflated and flat on the ground. Yay!

We found parking at Chukar Cherries just a block away from the balloon launching site (surprising, since we were technically late). When we got out of the van, it was 37 degrees outside--our first brush with sub-50 temperatures this season. Poor thin Rose struggled with the cold the most, as usual. I gave her my spare jacket, with shivering motherly sacrifice, as usual. Eventually Rose got into the stroller and sat holding Amber covered in a blanket for warmth, which seemed to help. When the balloons started inflating and the sun rose higher, the air warmed up enough so we weren't too terribly chilled in our fleece jackets and vests. There was a good sized crowd assembled to admire the balloons, but it didn’t feel too packed. Normally I avoid large crowds at all costs, so I was glad that there was enough space for everyone out on the little Prosser Airport field so we could all enjoy the balloon launch without tripping over each other too much.

The balloons were amazing! I was expecting them to be colorful, but I've never been quite that close to hot air balloons before, and they were enormous! HUGE! Rainbow-rific! Gorgeous in the morning sunlight! Normally, I’m only awed by nature (think mountains) and historic sites (think Chateaux), but I felt a little giddy watching those crumpled flat patches of fabric bloom and swell into giant balls of color. Spectators were allowed to walk around amidst the balloons, so we were up close and personal! It was so fun standing right next to the balloons as they inflated. We oooh'd and awwww'd and pointed excitedly with the crowd as the different balloons took shape and showed off their various vibrant patterns. It was kind of magical. First, a large fan was aimed at the flat balloon to fill it with air. Once the balloon puffed up enough while lying on its side, they switched to the flame-thrower torch thingy to get hot air inside the balloon.

As the air in the balloons heated up and they fully inflated, they simply lifted off and floated away like giant brightly-colored dandelion fuzz! It looked that effortless when they finally started lifting off. The loud part was the fans that inflated the balloons from off the ground, and the occasional flames inside to lift the balloons up. But when they weren't using their flame-throwers to gain altitude, the balloons just floated there like big rainbow-colored bubbles, wafting along on the wind. I loved it. Rose was pretty chilled so she liked it but she was mostly concerned about staying warm by that point. Amber was busy eating the slightly stale banana muffin that I packed for her. She stared with wide eyes at the giant balloons, but I think she may have been less impressed with them than I was because most things in Amber's world are significantly bigger than she is. I'm not as used to being dwarfed as Amber is. I am six feet tall after all. 

Guess who took lots of pictures? Everyone! It wasn't just me, I promise...

Waiting for the weather verdict--will the balloons be able to launch? Those flat puddles in the background are all deflated hot air balloons.

 Balloon basket--smaller than I expected.

The first golden rays of sun hitting those little red noses

 We stayed by this red, yellow, and blue balloon to watch it inflate from flat to take-off.

Some people were handing out free helium-filled balloons with "Trust Jesus" written on them, so that silent message floated on the periphery of hundreds of pictures people were taking all over the field. Normally I'm not a huge fan of casual usage of the names of Deity, but this one ended up working for me--it just fit in with the small town sunrise balloon launch somehow.

Those flames!

 It was so big, and we were so close that I couldn't get it all in one picture.

 Tradtitionally, the balloons head over to the river to attempt a dip and lift or something. They go down low close to the water and then lift off up high again. It's quite picturesque (I've seen pictures from the past) but the crowds were too thick on the bridge for us to see much of this part while pushing a stroller. From what I can tell, it's kind of an either or thing--either see the lift-off or the river-dip. The river is about a quarter mile from the airport launch point, so navigating crowds with a stroller for a good viewpoint on the narrow bridge wasn't happening this time. Luckily, now that we know how awesome it can be, we will come back next year!

We admired the balloons all the way until 8am before dashing back to the car and heading home. We had to drive Jeff to Sunnyside so he could hop on the school bus with the cross country team and drive to their meet! So we drove 15 minutes back to Grandview, picked Jeff and Jay up, drove 15 minutes in the other direction to Sunnyside, dropped Jeff off, and finally returned home for breakfast (another 15 minute drive--that quarter hour feels longer and longer the more I drive it).

Part One of our Super Adventuresome Saturday was done by 8:30am.

{Part Two of our Super Adventuresome Saturday is in the next post, probably not showing up on this page because of the plethora of pictures posted here}