Napa- Day 8

On the morning of October 23, we once again woke up at 5am to prepare for our hot air balloon ride.  The weather was perfect!  A little chilly, but no rain!  We drove up into Yountville, just north of Napa, and gathered at Domaine Chandon Winery.  Everything was pitch black, so it didn't look much like a winery to me, but whatever!  I think we were like the second couple to arrive and we went to check in.  The two ladies at the table had NO record of our reservation.  WHAT???  I explained that we were scheduled for the day before and we had gotten rained out and called right on the dot at 8am to reschedule.  Too bad.  They didn't see our names.  I was livid!  They wanted to know who we spoke with to reschedule.  No clue...we spoke to a lady and she confirmed our rescheduling, but we never got her name.  All they could tell us was to go enjoy the coffee and pastries and if they had room, we could fly.  UGH!  I was so upset!  So we ate, and we sat, and I pouted, and we waited.  And a hour went by as other happy and scheduled people arrived.  One of the pilots came out to address the entire crowd and encourage others to purchase Napa Valley Balloons ball caps, if they hadn't brought one..because of the heat in the balloons (we had ours).  And we were all asked to load up into vans outside to drive to the lift-off location.  And we STILL didn't know if we could fly.  I was trying to be optimistic, but, let's face it, we know my luck!

We literally drove right down the hill from the winery and got out of the vans at a driving range for a golf course.  The balloons were out and being blown up and ready for flight.  And then it was time to know our fate.  Names started being called off to split us up into our balloons...and they said "Ewing" and everything was right in the world!  Thank goodness!  We were placed in the Grasshopper group with pilot Gabe.  We walked over to our balloon.  It was already blown up and ready to be righted and us pile in, when something happened and the whole thing deflated.  GREAT!  Yup..my luck!  If a balloon is going to fail, it has to be mine!  So, they began blowing it up again as we waited.  It wasn't so bad because we ended up being the second balloon ready, but still, the wait was painful!  We all piled in...4 people per section of the basket...4 sections, 16 people in our balloon plus our pilot Gabe.  And before we knew it, we were off the ground.  We seriously didn't even feel it.  One minute we were on the ground and the next we were in the air!



Grasshopper Balloon!!



We ended up traveling about 7 miles total.  It was a very interesting feeling!  We were in the sky, we were off the ground, but because we were moving with the wind, we felt like we were standing still.  I'm not really terrified of heights, but I don't particularly love them.  It wasn't a problem though!  The only time it was scary was if we leaned out of the basket and looked straight down.  Then you felt like you were high up!  It was fun flying over the vineyards and spotting rabbits between the rows.  Out pilot was helpful in pointing out landmarks and telling us how to balloon operated.  When it was time to land, we were in a bit of a bind...we missed two landing spots.  When we'd go lower, we'd loose the wind speeds and just hang in the air...when we moved higher, the wind would move us more...so we needed to be closer to the ground to land, but then we didn't move.  Catch 22.

We finally went down in the edge of a vineyard and the crew pulled us onto the vineyard road (that still didn't give us enough space).  A man in a very nice house, who had the cable guy in the yard, offered to let us land in his yard because he had more space.  That was fun!  Kevin and I did get tired of the people in the balloon making stupid jokes about how we were a competing cable company swooping in to take the guy's business, but I guess that's part of the trip...being in a small space with strangers!  Once we got the balloon loaded up, we packed back in the vans and returned to the winery for a mimosa brunch, which was WONDERFUL!

After our early and eventful morning, it was only like 10am.  We stopped to grab some starbucks and then drove over to Sonoma to walk around and take in the sites!  We started in the square and walked around from there.  Remember Ben Flajnik from The Bachelor?  We saw some of the sites from the beginning of his season...the outdoor amphitheater where they had a group date and he brought in kids to help him put on a play and the movie theatre where he took Kacie on the first date of the season.  I couldn't find the restaurant they ate in or the gag gift shop where she bought a baton, but it had to be there somewhere, right?  He does have a winery in Sonoma and I hadn't done any research, so we missed it.  But, the photo of Kevin leaning against the wall...that walkway leads to the tasting room for Ben's winery...so close!  I was pretty excited we stumbled upon this area!

After our quick trip to Sonoma, we headed back to Carneros and walked around, viewing the pool by The Market and then took a well deserved nap (because of our early wake-up) lounging on our porch lounger at our cottage.  When we woke up, we hopped on the computer and found tickets to Game 1 of the World Series, that would be the very next day!  WHOO HOO!  We went up to the registration area to print off our tickets and we borrowed a movie for later that evening.  Then we walked over to one of the restaurants at Carneros, The Boon Fly Cafe.  We enjoyed our dinner and took our dessert to go (mini donuts and chocolate sauce-AMAZING!).  Then we went back to our cottage and watched My Fair Lady while eating our donuts and enjoying some wine!  With the fire going, it was a great final night at Carneros!