Travel Blog

Sue:

Phil, Nick, Liz, and a couple of friends of theirs, and I went to Columbus, Kansas, on Saturday for Columbus Days festiviities. But before that, check out this rainbow we saw on our way to Coffeyville last week:

Now back to Columbus...we had to get up really early on Saturday because Nick wanted to be in Columbus by 7:00 a.m. to see hot air balloons take off. So we got up at around 5:00 a.m. to meet up with them for the 50-mile trip. We got there in plenty of time for the balloons, though, because, as it turned out, all the rain Kansas had gotten lately made it impossible for the balloons to take off where they usually do, and there was a bit of confusion. So we didn't see all the balloons take off from where we were, but it was still pretty cool. We got to see the complete setup for one of the balloons, and we got to be right there when a few of them landed.

Getting the basket in place:

Getting the balloon in place:

Blowing up the balloon:

Ready to fly:

X marks the spot where the balloons were supposed to land. None of them came close.

Coming in for a landing (on our heads):

Another close encounter:

Then, after the balloons, we went to a church basement for a pancake breakfast. It had been quite awhile since I've been to a church basement eating event, and it was pretty fun. After breakfast, we roamed around the town square, looking at some arts and crafts, checking out an antique car show, a 1919 Seth Thomas clock that's the only one of its kind still in operating condition, we watched the Columbus Days parade and ate mummy cookies.

After the parade, we weren't sure what else to do, so we decided to go to West Mineral, Kansas, the home of Big Brutus, which one of the world's two largest shovels ever! But I think I'll save that for tomorrow. I'll end this one with some movie clips of the balloons...

Clip One:

Clip Two:

Clip Three: