The Prosser Balloon Rally '08

September 27th 6am

Well since we didn't make it to the Great Reno Balloon Fest, we decided to take our telescopes and camera equipment and head out to the Prosser Balloon Rally over the weekend of the 27 and 28th and celebrate Chris' 49th birthday. Plan was to take Hwy 410 over to Yakima and then on into Prosser, however our favorite RV Park was booked solid, so Marc got on the puter and booked us into the Beach RV Park in Benton City, WA (Beach in Eastern Washington, hmmmm where was he taking us to???), it was close only 15 minutes beyond Prosser. So 2am in the morning of the 27th or do you call it the middle of the night, we got up and were out the door by 2:30am to head over to Prosser, in Eastern, WA. Well, first problem was that the GPS said 410 was not the fastest route to take...it was the shortest route, but the fastest route was over I-90 and since time was an issue, I-90 it was. Marc drove since this was basically regular wake up time with his hours at work. Chris managed to stay awake just before Ellensburg then she was out like a light until we hit Yakima. In Yakima she took over driving to give Marc a break and for him to catch a bit of a cat nap. We arrived at the Prosser Airport where the first event was taking place at 6am...we arrived at 6:02am...great timing!!!

We saw the first crews arriving to set up the balloons. So out came the camera, video and tripods. We watched as they prepared their balloons to prepare to launch off.

Testing the burners.

Basket, Burner and Big Flames

Next, they laid out the balloons on tarps. All of the vistors were warned not to step on the tarps or to walk over the ropes, but rather to walk around.

Colourful Balloons, just waiting to take the air!!!

They had these huge crank pull start fans, to fill the balloons before they could turn the burners on to fill with the hot air.

Getting ready to turn the fan on

Cute Red One!!!

Notice the four Propane bottles in each corner of the basket

This is so that the flames do not burn the silk of the fabric.

Once the balloon is filled to a certain level they then turn the burner into the balloon and start the rising effect, first with quick jolts of flames until the balloon is upright then they could do longer jolts, but they never kept them on for long. The heat from the burners was intense.

Rock Boat VIII

ROCK BOAT VIII

MIAMI ~ GRAND CAYMAN ~ JAMAICA

Our Second Rock Boat here we come!!! This year we are all ready with video camera, DSLR with zoom lens that handles low light, and 500 GB of travel harddrive. Of course, this was the year that they decided you can only take 2 extra lithomin batteries with you so, we had to make sure that we had ways to recharge them...but we were set!!!

We flew out of SeaTac Airport on the red eye, on Continental into Houston, Texas, with a short LO, and then on to Ft Lauderdale. The Layover in Houston, we were met by a young man who drove us to our next gate and told us the best places to grab a bite to eat. What remarkable service that Houston Airport had!!! We ate at a Bar B Q place at 0619...only Marc's stomach can handle Bar B Q and Beer at 6 am!!! Then it was onto our gate and off to Ft Lauderdale. Where we grabbed a cab and made our way into Debbie's condo, where she hooked us up in one of the condo's for rent and her car to drive!!! Marc was hungry again so we went out and had some pizza for lunch at our favorite place on the ocean...Paimanti Bros. We had a combination pizza and a red stripe beer, YUM!!!

That night after Debbie got home from work, we went out for dinner, yep seemed like we were always eating, at the Blue Fish off the main drag and actually just around the corner from Paimanti Bros. Debbie told us a story about how Paimanti Bros had never closed their doors (it's a 24 hour joint) in I don't remember how many years, but it was along time, well when the Katrina Hurricane hit, they had to close up and not one could find the key to the door so they had to chain and paddle lock the door shut. Debbie and Marc had a Canjun type fish on some roasted pan fried potatoes and Marc also had some clam chowder, and Chris had Dolfin Fingers and chips (no not Flipper) these are made from Dolfin Fish. Then back to the condo, where Jim was just getting in from work. We visited a few minutes and we were so exhausted, we crashed!!!

The next day was a bumming around day. Debbie and Jim had to work, so we slept in and then went to look for a resturant that Marc had visited on a previous trip that served "wonderful" crepes (Marc's description). but we slept too late, so we drove and found another restuarant "the Floridian Restaurant" or "Flo" as the locals called it. Then back to the condo to just rest up for the Rock Boat. We went out to sun on Debbie and Jim's Private Beach and watch the pelicans. The condo's were going through a major face lift, so there was scaffoling and loud noise from the equipment. but we still enjoyed the day lounging around in the sun. That night we had dinner with Debbie and Jim, then off to repack and get ready to leave on the Rock Boat VIII.

Jim was graceous to take us to the Miami Port the next day, so we were all ready to go when he got home from some erands he had to run that morning. He plugged in the address to the GPS and off to the Port we went.

PICS AND SCRAPBOOK PAGES TO COME!!!!