a Summer's Eve

Last Saturday a friend called, asking if I wanted to go to The Hillsboro Balloon Festival. I thought about all I had planned on doing and just said yes. I'm very glad I did as it turned out to be an almost perfect Summer's evening.... comfortable temperatures, no bugs, small town carnival atmosphere, and fun things to look at and do.

We walked from the center of town down to Grimes Field in time to watch the Hot Air Balloons set up. It was an opportunity to see them up close.

Here they are laying out the hot air envelopes.




With 9 balloons being inflated on the field, it was an unusual and beautiful sight.



They used large fans to start getting the balloon inflated. Then they lit off the propane burner to finish filling the balloon with hot air. We could get as close to them as we wanted to .... close enough that if you weren't careful, you could singe the hair off of your head!



The baskets were placed on the ground sideways and gradually went upright as more and more of each balloon was filled.





...and the first balloon starts up!










There it goes, right over our heads.

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It was a beautiful sight to watch them quietly go up and slowly drift over the tree tops.

We ate junk food, laughed, and played at the booths... though I drew the line at buying a piece of the field for the "cow flop bingo" or going on any of the rides that were high up and spinning! We went back into town for dinner and afterwards came back, found a perfect close parking spot and took a blanket to the field. A piece of ground was found against a fence so we could lean back and watch fireworks. For a smallish NH Town, the fireworks were some of the best I've ever seen. So ended an absolutely splendid Summer's evening.