ateolf | Ballooning Adventure

I finished reading Rebellion: Essays 1980-1991 by Minnie Bruce Pratt. It was the second part of my Spousal Book Club reading and I enjoyed the essays. I also got some cds in the mail. In one package: Les Rallizes Dénudés: Jittoku '76 and in another package: Dead Voices on Air: From Labrador to Madagascar, Iannis Xenakis: Electronic Music, and Asmus Tietchens: Notturno. In the afternoon Mary Beth and I went way out to this hot air balloon festival in Rossville (which is past Piperton, which is past Collierville, which is past Germantown). So we get there way out in the country and first we miss the entrance to the festival because it's all just in this field and though we passed tons of signs letting us know we were approaching the balloon festival while driving up the highway, the actual entrance had a small sign we missed (though Mary Beth saw the vendor entrance, which was right next to the main entrance but we didn't see that one at first). We were early anyway, not knowing what to expect we got there well in time before it even opened. No balloon activity was happening that early. It was otherwise like a little county fair out in the big field. The first thing we did (and something we came back to several times) was look at the goats. A goat therapy organization had a pen set up with a bunch of goats and they just ate the fuck out of some hay. They were all small, I guess they were pygmy goats. Some had little hats. And people could come in the pen and pet them and they really didn't give a fuck what anyone did as they just pretty much did not stop eating hay. They were very cute! The first thing we got from wandering around the fair food stuff was some popsicles from Mem Pops. That was very called-for as it was pretty hot. We were lucky in that it wasn't as hot as it's been, there was a bit of cloud coverage that dampened the sun and kept it from just outright blazing down on us, but it was still pretty humid and the world had a little bit of a baked-in feeling. There was a little carnival ride section and Mary Beth and I hit up the Ferris Wheel. We thought it'd be a little bit of a preparation for the tethered balloon ride we were planning on taking. Hadn't been on one in a while and it was a little nerve wracking, but nice going on up there and getting a view and stuff. Afterwards Mary Beth was having second thoughts about the balloon ride. But we kept up around the fair. We tried this one truck that had aguas frescas que no estuvieron frescas. More wandering around. At some point balloons started going up. I had a meal of a Tops cheeseburger from their foodtruck and it was delicious. Going to get a seat, they really didn't have nearly enough tables and I was zoning in on the last available spaces and right when I get there someone else gets in the seat before me (so had to find a another table under an awning in a different area that didn't have chairs but I could stand and set my food down and be in some shade, okay). We killed some more time and by the time a line was starting to form for the balloon rides, Mary Beth had come around again and wanted to do it. So we were up close to the beginning of the line. We finally got onto a balloon (they had like three or four for the rides) and ended up in one with a big smiley face on it (oh, I forgot to mention that one balloon that was just free flying had giant flip-flops, or floppers as I like to call them, hanging on the side of the balloon). Okay, so we end up in the first ride on our balloon, maybe even the first balloon to go up and there was one other couple in the basket with us. Those baskets are tiny and just the four of us and the pilot felt like we were really crammed in there. The most trouble part of it was the heat! When he'd blast the hot air into the balloon, I could really feel that heat when I stood up so I was kinda crouching down a bit most of the time. The ride was very short and did not go very high at all. I'm not even sure if it went half as high as the Ferris Wheel did. Didn't get a whole much of a view but it was fun. The couple in the basket with us took our picture. We were only up a few minutes (like what, two minutes up at the pinnacle?). It went so fast I didn't give myself time to get over my nervousness and fully enjoy it! Getting in and out of the basket is awkward. What else. After the balloon ride we hit up another foodtruck, one with Indian street food called Something Desi. I was still full from the burger but Mary Beth hadn't really eaten so she got some stuff and I at least had a bite and it was really delicious. Super into this food truck now. I think it's a new one. Anyway, we grabbed that food and came back home. It was a long and fun and busy day!