talk about a lot of hot air...

This is the first in a series of posts about our recent trip to Colorado. Although we went out primarily to visit with Laurel's grandmother and to help take care of her during our time there, we were also able to sneak in a few really fun outings here and there for an hour or two. (Laurel's grandmother broke her hip about 4 weeks before we arrived and ended up getting out of rehab the day before we arrived. We saw a big improvement in her during the 10 days that we were there).

The following are some pictures from the Colorado Balloon Classic in Colorado Springs, which takes place every Labor Day weekend and is one of the largest in the country.

At night, they have a "balloon glow" which is pretty amazing. They inflate the balloons and fire them, but don't actually take off.

7:30am on the other hand is a very different story...

Balloons of all colors, shapes and sizes take to the Colorado blue sky in flight. We were in utter amazement at the size of the Energizer bunny balloon.















Although Rose really liked to look at all of the balloons and watch them take off, her personal opinion was that the "firing" of the balloons was too loud. (Especially when you are surrounded by them on every side).


One of the long standing traditions at the Colorado Balloon Classic is to dip the baskets of the balloons in the lake at Memorial Park just after takeoff. It looked like some of the passengers actually got a little wet, but I'm sure the cheers of the crowd must make it worth it.