Chez PLJ

As in: “sunk like a…”

A few weeks back we got notification of Windreach Farm‘s upcoming 20th anniversary celebrations on Saturday June 13th. Among the usual types of festive events such as musicians, horse shows, art exhibits and the like, was one that piqued our interest: accessible hot air balloon rides! (Actually, they also offered sheep-herding demonstrations, which piqued my interest mightily, but which I knew would bore Jon to tears.)

The balloon rides would only happen at dawn and dusk on Friday and Saturday, since those were the times that were most likely to be calm weather. I booked Friday evening for our ride and was told to arrive at 6:30 p.m. Only one parent would be allowed to go up with Jon, so Peter graciously stepped aside so I could be the one.

Inflating the balloon

We left our house a bit after 5 p.m. Friday, and quickly acquainted ourselves with the horror that is Toronto rush-hour traffic. Two hours later (twice as long as it should’ve taken to get north of Oshawa) we arrived at the farm, only to discover that not only were we not late, but they hadn’t even inflated the balloon yet. It was closer to 8:00 when they finally started the fan to inflate the balloon, which was fascinating for the adults to watch—not so much the kids. We were 11th on the list, so it looked like it was going to be a very loooong evening. Jon was rapidly losing patience with the whole thing, and was only kept on an even keel by excessive reliance on his iPod shuffle. He then nearly freaked out when they turned the burners on to heat up the air in the balloon, which made a huge roaring noise. It wasn’t that bad from where we were—a good fifty yards away—but the noise upset an already-at-the-breaking-point Jon, and we were wondering how he would cope when he was sitting right under the burners…

Eleventh in line

We needn’t have worried. The handlers were using the burners a lot, and Jon eventually acclimatized to the noise. But they kept using the burners to keep the balloon upright, even to the point of using up a whole gas canister after the first ascent, and soon it became apparent that the gentle breeze that barely ruffled the leaves at the treetops was quite enough to tip the balloon sideways. The tipping effect was magnified with our balloon being tethered to the ground, and it was clear that the handlers were doing all they could just to keep the works upright.

Finally up! And that’s all, folks…

That evening a grand total of one kid + parent went up. Finally by 9:00 the handlers called it quits and broke the news to a very disappointed crowd. But by this time Jon had broken through his irritation, and was quite contented and giggling. We drove back to Toronto (in about an hour) and stopped by a local ice-cream shop. By the time we had dessert, headed back home and put him to bed (11ish) Jon was fully convinced that he had had a really good time.

Poor deflated balloon

Sadly it didn’t go as well for the Windreach event organizers: only the Saturday evening balloon session was not scrubbed all four sessions were scrubbed (a dismal success rate, but one which I hear is not at all unusual for hot-air balloons).