Travel

Life List: A Hot Air Balloon Ride in Stowe, Vermont

by Amy @ Mom Spark on August 1, 2013 // This post may contain affiliate links.

Disclosure: I received resort accommodations, spa treatments, some meals, and a balloon ride in return for this post. Thoughts are my own.

Last month, I had the unique opportunity to check off one of my life list dreams – to ride in a hot air balloon.

The wonderful folks at the Stoweflake Mountain Resort & Spa in Stowe, Vermont hosted my friend Jamie and me during the Stoweflake Hot Air Balloon Festival. I’ll be sharing highlights from the resort itself next week.

The Stoweflake Hot Air Balloon Festival takes place once a year on the Stoweflake Mountain Resort & Spa grounds, hosting around 20 hot air balloons. In addition to the hot air balloons, the festival offers delicious food vendors (including one of my favorites, Ben & Jerry’s), family activities, and spa treatments to its attendees. It’s a great festival for families and hot air balloon enthusiasts.

On the day we attended, the weather was absolutely perfect with low winds and sunshine in the low 80s, which made for perfect hot air balloon flying conditions. We really lucked out.

How do you inflate a hot air balloon?

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I was curious, too. I found out that it’s pretty basic – spread the balloon flat on the ground, inflate with a huge fan, then heat it up.

What it’s like to fly in a hot air balloon.

We had the honor of having Chuck Baraw, the President of Stowe Mountain Resort & Spa, as our balloon pilot. Chuck has had decades of balloon flying experience, so we were in great hands.

Flying in the hot air balloon was so different from what I imagined. Not at all scary and the ride was surprisingly smooth and fluid. (I had expected it to be a bit bumpy) The views from above were absolutely stunning. We could see the green mountains of Vermont for miles.

It was so quiet in the air. Very, very quiet. We could occasionally hear voices from people on the ground (we drew a lot of attention from the locals) and from the birds chirping in the trees, but other than that, it was completely silent. It was incredibly peaceful.

I shot some videos while in the air to give you an idea of what the ride is like. The loud sound you hear is from the pilot releasing hot air into the balloon.

The balloon goes wherever the wind takes it. There is no way to steer the balloon, so you are at the mercy of the weather and wind direction. To land, you simply find an open spot and go down (with the help of a balloon team that follows your path). In fact, we landed in a woman’s front yard. Fortunately, she was very welcoming!

Once we landed safely, Chuck pulled out a case that included a bottle of champagne and flutes. We learned that it is tradition to drink champagne after a balloon flight. I kinda love this tradition.