You see the sun before the city does.
Sunrise balloon flights over the Rio Grande valley, with breakfast after landing. We meet you in the dark.
Cold air first. Then the burner.
A fan fills the envelope on the grass. Heating the air inside stands it up over the basket, a lantern on the field.
Up.
The field drops away, and the crew's lamps grow small below.
First light.
About a thousand feet up, the sun clears the ridge. The balloon turns gold while the city below is still blue, its street lights on.
We steer by height.
The air near the ground can move one way while the air higher up moves another, so the pilot climbs or sinks to choose a direction. The wind does the rest.
Then breakfast.
We come down in a field, pack the balloon away together and lay out breakfast while the valley wakes up.
The ridge, the valley, its street lights and the balloon are imagined. They are illustrative, not a map.
Pick a morning, and we will meet you in the dark.
- Pick your morning
See when the sun rises on any day of the example year, and when we meet.
- The flight
From the field in the dark to breakfast, about four hours in all.
- Private flights
A basket for two or four, on any morning we fly.