Montague, CA Hot Air Balloon Fair 2016
For those of you that live in the north state and have not traveled to Montague, CA for the hot air balloon fair, you are missing out! My husband and I went last weekend for our first time and it was amazing! We were able to camp out right across the street from the field the balloons take off. We arrived on Saturday evening, set up our tent, and watched the sun set behind the mountains while drinking a glass of wine. What an experience!! Once it became dark enough to see the stars, we brought our chairs into the middle of the field and stargazed, amazed at how brightly the milky way shined in the night sky.
We arose at 5:30am when we heard the cars and spectators start arriving to witness the event. I never understood the process on how the balloons stood upright, so that was pretty amazing to watch. First, the crew set out a tarp (i'm assuming so the balloon didn't get a tear), next came the unrolling of the balloon. The crew then filled the balloon with cool air to inflate it and finally, the crew used the hot flame's air to elevate the balloon so that is was no longer laying on it's side.
As the balloon arose to its standing position and the flames ignited, the hot air balloon lit up against the dark sky. This was such a magical experience! The size of the balloon surprised me as the only balloons I have seen were in the sky, thousands of feet high and miles and miles away. It was as if I was a little kid again witnessing something I thought couldn't be real but was happening right in front of my eyes. Come 6 am, the first balloon of the day rose into the sky with some very lucky passengers and floated along the Montague countryside while getting the best view in town of the morning sunrise.
As the sun rose, it highlighted Mount Shasta and slowly touched the mountains and countryside in our view. Just in the perfect moment, the second balloon that took off floated above the glorious Mount Shasta leaving with me a picture I will treasure forever. Sunday morning couldn't have been more beautiful!
By 7am a few more balloons had been prepped and were ready for take-off. In all, I think there were 10 hot air balloons that took off on that beautiful Sunday morning. The balloons were so bright in color against the vivid blue sky that just looking up made you happy to be alive.
So, here is to the City of Montague and Siskiyou County for hosting this amazing event! This was one of the best weekends my husband and I have had and we will be back next year to see you again! Hopefully, we'll be able to ride in one of these spectacular balloons before the fair next year!
