Plano Balloon Festival

This past weekend we were able to attend the Plano Balloon Festival. I had seen one on television years ago, and was pleasantly surprised to find that there was one here.  Sister Hulse,

Sister Shell and I went together.  Sister Campbell was away in Salt Lake.  We were anxious to take advantage of everything we could.

It opened at 5:00 Friday evening, but it started raining hard so we knew nothing was going to happen.  Saturday morning we got up at 5:00.  It was a beautiful sunrise and we were positioned on our spot of (probably the only hill) in Plano. We waited until 7:00 only to find that the wind was blowing in the wrong direction so they still couldn't take flight. They did, however, inflate the balloons so we could see them and take photos. There was a festival of a few vendors, but it was very small compared to our North Bend, and Salmon Days.

We left for the rest of the day but returned at 5;00 Saturday evening.  We watched the paraglider's come down.  It made me think fondly of Cade and how much he loved the sport.  However, there was another wind going the wrong direction so we still didn't get to see the balloons take flight.  We stayed to see the "balloon glow" but the only balloons that flew were the one's the kids lost. The crowds of people were amazing.  The picture only shows one direction, but we were surrounded by the same amount of people everywhere.  At one point we counted 32 balloons, but we knew there were more in the back that we couldn't see.

                                 

Well, Sunday morning came.  I resisted the urge to go sit in some parking lot close to the park and see if they lifted off this time.  Church starts in Plano 4th Ward at 9:00.  Marjean had a presidency meeting at the house at 8:00.  When her guests arrived they said, "Go look out the back window!"  They had seen eight or nine balloons earlier.  "I think we only got the tail end.....  Oh well, maybe another year!"