The first time I rode in a balloon was 22 years ago at the very first balloon rally in my hometown of Prosser, WA. Even though we just went up 20 or 30 feet in the air and back down again, I was extremely thrilled by that ride. I love the idea of flight (learning to fly is on my bucket list) and find hot air balloons fascinating.
So while I was back home visiting my father before I left on my trip, I jumped at going to the balloon rally. It starts early, around 6am, and only lasts a short time. It’s also a small town thing, so there were 24 balloons. For comparison, Albuquerque is the largest balloon rally in the nation and has over 300 balloons I’m told. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed the site of the balloons. Unfortunately, there don’t do rides so I didn’t get to go up this time.
The balloons take off from the airport and then float over to the Yakama River where they touch the water slightly and float back up again. The whole affair lasts a couple of hours. The bridge and nearby filed are taken over with spectators watching all the balloons. Below are a few pictures from the Great Prosser Balloon Rally.
