Soar Over Sonoma County

Adventures in Hot Air Balloon Rides

By Marcy Joyce 
Wine Country Lifestyle / Fall 2017

The dark sky gradually yields to dawn as cars arrive at the nearly vacant restaurant parking lot where I too wait in my vehicle for our fair-weather adventure to begin. As a 20-year Sonoma County resident, I haven’t had to come as far or awaken as early as most of my fellow passengers who have headed to the North Bay from Oakland, San Francisco or Silicon Valley. Traveling visitors from out of the area chose to stay in nearby hotels the night before. Our common goal: To arrive promptly at 6am to meet our crew who will take us a short distance to our launching site.

I introduce myself to the first woman who parks and gets out of her car, momentarily leaving her half-awake boyfriend, Efe, in the passenger seat. Her name is Mai and she tells me that Efe does not yet know why they are there—but it is his birthday and she has gifted him with a hot air balloon ride as a surprise on this summer morning. Leaving their home at 4 in the morning, she says, is part of the adventure. I find myself agreeing with her, though I’ve become a bit more of an early riser in my 40s than in my younger years. I then follow the suggestion issued by chief Wine Country Balloons pilot Scott van der Horst to follow those who checked in before us to the Starbucks across the street after he consults his clipboard for our names on the list. Two white minibuses will meet us and drive us to the two balloons being fired up as we sip some joe and gradually begin to feel more alive.

Early mornings are ideal for this activity because this is when the conditions are the most calm and cool for more lift and a soft, safe landing.

When our group is divided and seated on each bus according to which of two baskets attached to nylon envelopes that each person will climb aboard, Scott, who has been a commercial touring pilot in Northern California for 35 years, steps into the bus where I am now seated and apprises us of what we can expect, which in this case is a beautiful birds-eye view of Russian River Valley with its rows of verdant vineyards and cloud laced mountains in the distance.

The shuttles take us a short distance and within minutes upon arrival everyone hops out and beholds a rainbow striped fabric bag alongside a blue and white design that advertises Blue Star Gas propane service. The inflation process for both is nearly complete and each is hoisted by a torch-like gas flame centered above the huge baskets on the yellow grass. A few people begin to express apprehension about how high we will be suspended in the air but are promptly assured that their detachment to the ground will give them no sense of being several hundred feet in the air. They will simply be free to observe, as they would in any normal circumstance, the 360 degree aerial views as the vessel gently rises and lowers as it drifts over the valley untethered.

Once I’m on board Blue Star, along with about 20 other people, I strike up casual conversation with Vicki and Marcus, a couple in their early 30s who live in Santa Clara, California. They had originally intended this trip for Marcus’s birthday in April but had to reschedule for a more weather friendly day which happily has finally arrived. There are flyable days throughout the year, though the clearer the day, the more there is to see. Rain or severe weather are cause for postponement. Newfound friendships are formed in such close quarters as people learn about one another. Katrina and Aaron are celebrating their first wedding anniversary. Several families are on vacation together. Our pilot regales us with ballooning tales from his background and throughout history of mankind.

The view below varies by season with lots of greenery on offer this summer morning. Some passengers continue quietly chatting as we weightlessly ascend and compare notes on herds of brown cows grazing in golden pastures, horses kicking up dust as they run laps in their stables, excited dogs barking to protect their families’ sprawling ranch estates that sparsely adorn the expanses of grape plantations on land once covered by the oak trees surrounding them. Peering out in the distance our bulbous inverted teardrop shadow is seen trailing us from below.

There is an element of spontaneity as the length of the flight and the landing will depend on what Scott refers to as “landing opportunities” contingent on wind conditions and landowners’ consent. Generally flights take an hour to and hour and a half.

We hover above a paved road as the end of the flight is nigh with the Sonoma County Airport in sight. A private retro-era open aircraft taxis with two people taking to the sky on a front-propelled adventure of their own. A crew who will reverse the balloon inflation process once we’ve completed our gradual descent to the earth coasts along in a chase truck. The same shuttles that brought us to our launch site are waiting for us to land. When we do, they bring us to our original meeting site at a café parking lot.

Our group is much livelier than when we first arrived before dawn. Inside the restaurant is where we enjoy camaraderie, sharing laughs and our perceptions of the morning’s experience over the champagne brunch that is included in the price. The day is still young and the pilots and crew situate themselves near the entrance where they have brochures, tour maps and coupons for various things we adventurers might want to do later.

For more information, visit http://balloontours.com/