See more stunning photos and watch video of the launches

LEWISTON — Every morning, I wake up to the sound of my alarm at five o’clock, and I press snooze as many times as I can before I absolutely have to get up for work. This morning is different though: This morning I was wide awake, impatiently waiting for my alarm to go off like a little kid on Christmas.

This morning I’m not going into work; luckily for me, my boss is also my dad, and him am I are going to the balloon festival like we do every year. The only difference about this year is that instead of just watching the balloons take off, we’ll be in one and I am beyond excited about it.

The car ride over to the Great Falls Balloon Festival felt like it took forever as my dad and I talked about how excited we were to be finally doing this. Once we got there and got our tickets, it finally felt real.

We met our pilot, Jim Rodrigue. He has tattoos on his leg of all of his balloons, and right away it was very clear that he was passionate about this, and that was definitely a comforting feeling; he seemed as excited to go up as we were.

While we were waiting for our balloon to inflate, we watched as some of the other ones took off, and, I’ll admit, I was getting a little anxious. A good anxious though, like the butterflies you get on a first date, or the head rush you get while waiting in line for your favorite roller-coaster.

Finally, the balloon was ready for takeoff and it was our turn. We hopped in the basket and I felt my whole body taken over with goose bumps, and I couldn’t tell if it was from the brisk air or the sheer excitement I had to be going up in this balloon. As we started to lift off the ground, I looked over at my dad, who was grinning from ear to ear, waving to everyone and occasionally giving the peace sign. Seeing him like that made me smile just as big. I looked down to my friends and family watching from the ground, screamed “Hi mom!” and watched them get smaller and smaller.

Once we started moving, the goose bumps and butterflies went away and amazement filled my body. The ride was even better than I expected; it wasn’t scary at all, it was actually very smooth and relaxing. The scenery was surreal and I never thought Auburn could look so beautiful, and never imagined we’d be able to see as far as we did. Jim pointed out different landmarks, such as Sebago Lake and the Atlantic Ocean, to us, and even taught us that when you dunk the basket in the river it’s called a splash-and-dash, but if it goes up to your knees it’s called a sunk-and-dunk.

We started out slow, and floated towards the river. It looked like ours was going to be the only balloon to head towards the Lewiston side but, once we got to the river, the current grabbed us and we went towards Auburn with the rest of the balloons. I knew that the wind had some control over where the balloon went but never really realized how much until now.

The trip lasted 45 minutes, but it felt like it went by so much faster because it was just an indescribable feeling. When we landed and packed up the balloon, Jim kissed the ground and we celebrated with champagne, cheese and crackers. He explained to us that the Montgolfier brothers invented the hot air balloon and that, when it would land, farmers thought it was a UFO and would destroy it. So they made the basket for it and put small animals and champagne in it so farmers would know it wasn’t sent by aliens. He also showed us where we went on a GPS unit and told us we went up 2,300 feet.

I think that anyone who has ever thought about going up in a hot air balloon should definitely do it now, and not wait for “someday.” It’s hard to explain just how much of an amazing experience it is.

I couldn’t have asked for a better pilot and crew; they were all so nice and helpful. I’d also like to thank the Sun Journal and especially Judy Meyer for choosing my essay and for giving me and my dad this amazing opportunity and memory we’ll cherish forever. Lastly, I’d like to thank my mom, because she was the one who told me about the contest in the newspaper and without her, this wouldn’t have happened.

Copy the Story Link