Today we should have got up at the crack of dawn and had a balloon flight but frost and high winds impacted that plan, we were contacted by the balloon company who asked if we could reschedule it for the afternoon which we agreed to, this meant a bit of a replan of the day but not a big problem. We had a nice leisurely breakfast in our massive apartment and resisted playing table football but we did do some washing as we have a washer and dryer in the room, unfortunately this is probably our last laundry stop for the holiday as we will be back home before we need to do it again! We decided that the first thing we would do would be to drive out to the Gondola station at Stowe resort to have a look around, the first observation is how far away from the town the ski resort is, it must be a good 10 minute drive and that wasn’t in the snow or on a shuttle bus that stopped at every hotel. When we got to the base of the Gondola they were actually doing some building work, we decided against going up as we are hopefully going to go up in the balloon this afternoon. We did talk to a couple of guys that were helping at the base of the Gondola, they said that they are building another car park which meant that they had to move the pipes for the snow making, talking to them they normally expect to open for the season mid November but the forecast doesn’t look like they will have a great base by that time unless something changes dramatically. We then decided to follow one of the scenic drives that the Stowe tourist board has produced, this one took us around some farms and past a covered bridge. The bridge seems to have different names depending on who you ask, it is either called Gold Brook Covered Bridge, Stowe Hollow Bridge or Emilys bridge. It was built in 1844 and is still open to the public, it was originally called Gold Brook covered bridge as someone made a fortune ‘out west’ and came back to Vermont believing there was gold in the region he then found a small amount in the stream, but gave up as it wasn’t worth the effort but the name stuck. The reason it was called Emily’s bridge was that in the mid-1800s, Emily was supposed to meet her paramour at the bridge but he never showed up so Emily killed herself in a savage fit of desperation, hanging herself from the rafters of the covered bridge. In the ghost story that followed, Emily is apparently angry and there are tales of claw-like gouges down the sides of cars passing through the bridge and bloody scratches down the backs of pedestrians as well as reports of the sound of loosely dragging feet on the roofs of cars or the noise of a strange voice emanating from inside the short tunnel, none of which happened to us as we crossed it so that was a good thing! From there we drove round a lot of farmland and saw some great examples of farm buildings, we also saw what I think might be my favourite road sign, next to the Stop sign on the road the bridleway had a Whoa sign! Another stop on the drive was Waterbury Dam which is quite impressive you can park and walk along the dam wall which we did and there were some clusters of trees that have changed colour but also quite a lot of pine trees. By the time we had finished the scenic drive it was time for lunch so we came back to the apartment, then after lunch it was time to go on the balloon ride. It was about an hours drive over to the pickup point then after the paperwork where we basically signed to say we would do what we were told and if anything went wrong we wouldn’t sue anyone and it was time to jump into the van to be taken to the balloon. When we arrived they were just unloading everything from the van so we actually got to watch them connect the basket and inflating the balloon which was really interesting to watch, then we were finally allowed in so that we could take off. There were 14 of us including the pilot in the basket which is the maximum they take in this balloon but there was plenty of room and after a gentle takeoff we were driving over the Vermont countryside. Unfortunately apparently the colours are not that good this year as patches change colour but not the whole mountainside as they have seen in other years but all the same the views were fantastic, there is a massive body of water which we hadn’t see before that is Champagne lake, we drifted over a number of forests and a few lakes, as we were over the lake if you looked directly down you could see the reflection of the balloon in the water which was very impressive, then all too soon it was time to land, but just as Mother Nature has decided to have an impact on the fall colours this year she decided that the wind should pick up just as we came into land which meant that we actually landed in a field with cows in it that was also quite ‘damp’! A superhuman effort by the ground crew and the pilot meant that we were able to be ‘walked’ to the other side of the road where it was defiantly dryer. It was then time to leave the basket, I was last out and was allowed to ‘help’ by opening the vent at the top of the balloon causing it to deflate which was amazing fun although a little disconcerting when the Jeff our pilot told me hold the rope and under no circumstance let go, then he got out of the basket and I started floating again, but obviously this was all according to plan and I managed to open the top enough to let enough air out and the balloon to collapse. We then watched them fold up the balloon and once they had finished it was just time for a glass of champagne before we had to get back in the van to be taken back to our car. What a fantastic experience, I could definitely take to this but then I think the environment and scenery helped. We got back to the room about 7.45 and as we had brought a pizza for dinner it was just a case of cooking that looking at the pictures from today and relaxing, what a great day.
