June 18th 2013: Riding a Hot Air Balloon in Salem NH

This morning, I had to get up really early to pick my friend up to go see the sunrise in a hot air balloon in the New Hampshire town of Salem at A&A Balloon Rides.

When we arrived, it was to realize that 4 different companies met at the same spot at the same time, and cooperated together to give us a briefing about what ballooning was all about, including its history, safety concerns and the 3 different types of landing dependent on wind speed. They also inflated a small black balloon and let it loose into the sky to see where the wind was blowing and at what speed, as where the balloon goes in the air cannot be controlled by the pilot, being blown about by the wind instead. Based on this, where the balloon lands is highly dependent on where it gets blown to as well.

After the humorous briefing, during which the pilots tried to assuage our innate fears that hot air balloons were the safest form of airborne transportation, we boarded vans to take us to the liftoff site, an open field behind the Walmart in town.

Here, they proceeded to unload the basket from the van,

 and the balloon itself, all packed into a relatively small bag.

After setting up the engine onto the basket, the pilots test started them shooting towers of flames high up into the air.

It was then time to attach the balloon to the basket, laying the entire stretch out on the grass while placing the basket on its side.

The pilots then proceeded to fill the balloon with air,

capping the open end to trap the air inside, while heating the air inside to cause it to rise relative to the chiller surrounding air, eventually causing the balloon to lift up into its standing position,

ready to take people up into the air.

At this point, the balloon was so eager to go that we had to help hold it  down to prevent it from flying away. We then climbed into the basket, which was separated into 3 different compartments before the final push.

The others left ahead of us, so I was able to take pictures of them leaving.

Finally, we lifted off, the ground slowly drifting further away from us.

The scenery was absolutely gorgeous this time of the morning, with the fog yet to dissipate.

Some of the cool things we did while afloat was go low over the trees, so close we could touch them,

flying over power lines,

the other balloons almost colliding with each other (on purpose)

and having dogs below bark at us.









We tried landing in a field near the Mary Queen of Peace Church,

but as it was enclosed and close to power lines,

we were forced to stay afloat, ending up going over the World's End Pond, passing low over it to see our reflections in it.

Finally, it was time to force a landing, which we ended up doing so on the lawn of someone's house.

Now, it was time to move the basket off private property.  To do that, we had to first hold down the balloon to prevent it from lifting off again, and use the buoyancy of the balloon to shift the basket onto the side of the road.

Next, we had to lower the balloon, in a direction avoiding lamp posts and trees.

Next, we had to slowly let the air escape the balloon, uncapping the top and maneuvring it to let the air out.

After all the air was let out, we had to pack it back into the small bag.

From here, it was back to the starting point in the van, where we had a little champagne and food, as well as a certificate for successfully completing a hot air balloon ride.

I have to say, it was a really awesome experience being up there, and so peaceful as well. I definitely recommend doing it once at the very least, in spite of one's fears of heights.

May 26th 2013: ATVing in the White Mountains

Today, my friend and I headed into the White Mountains to have our first experience at riding an All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) in a tour organized by Outback Kayak in Lincoln NH.

After a 2.5 hour drive and doing our paperwork, we were told to drive into Woodstock NH to a place along Route 3 to find where all the ATVs were parked. Unfortunately, no address was available, so we were pretty unsure of whether we had passed the place on several occasions. Thankfully, we managed to find it in the end without having to make a U-turn.

After getting suited up with helmets, gloves and jackets in the cold weather today, we selected our ATVs, with me taking the slightly tank-like one, while my friend took the one which looked more like a bike. That was pretty much a mistake as I realized that it was much harder to turn the vehicle, and it felt more unstable as well, as though I could possibly tilt over at any moment. The whole way I was on the vehicle while going through mud puddles, trees and rivers, all with the surrounding mountains in the background,

I had a really uncomfortable time, even getting stuck at some points, and I was starting to think that ATVing is going to absolutely be a once in a lifetime thing for me. Thankfully, I had an opportunity to ask my friend to switch vehicles with me, and while I was on his vehicle for the rest of the tour, I had much more maneuverability, and it felt like I was back on my snowmobile again and back in my element.

I guess one important lesson I learned today was that the machine matters for ATVing.

After our fun time in the White Mountains, we headed away from there to find something to eat, settling on the Sunny Day Diner, a small diner in Lincoln NH along Daniel Webster Highway near its intersection with Connector Road.

As always, my friend decided to get an omelette together with a Root Beer Float,

while I got the Salmon Stack (fresh poached salmon atop a bed of steamed broccoli, scrambled eggs and a grilled wheat bread slice, with homemade Hollandaise sauce on top, served with hash browns).

The Salmon wasn't too bad, but overall, the place was just like any other small town diner in terms of food and ambiance.

With that, we headed back to Showcase Cinemas in Lowell MA to watch Fast and Furious 6, which was definitely better than Iron Man 3, after which we went back to my place to pick up my other friend who had been staying at home all day to take her out to a Japanese buffet dinner at Minado in Natick MA, where we had a great time for the rest of the night before my best friend went home to NYC.