Celebrating 26 years in Style!

Celebrating 26 years with “this old heart of mine”.  

Last week marked another milestone date in the history of my life as I reached 26 years with this heart!  I celebrated in style with some of my favorite people last week in Napa, Scott, my sister, the kids and my mom.  The trip started with a pick up at Sacramento International Airport and then a fun-filled drive to the Meritage Resort.  Upon checking in to our luxurious rooms and a bit of a rest for me, we ventured to the Crush Ultra Lounge for some yummy vittles & bowling!  That’s right, bowling.  Though I did abstain from this activity as I was 6 days post heart cath & my leg and thigh were still sore & bruised from the 20 minutes of holding pressure by the strong nurse!

The girls settled in to their suite & the boys headed to their room early to settle in for the night, as we had an early morning ahead of us with a wakeup call of 4:45…or maybe it was 4:30???   

Bleary eyed, we all rose & managed to get dressed and head over to another hotel where we were to meet our balloon crew that would take us to our “Exclusive” balloon ride.  Basically what “exclusive” means is that we had our own balloon-just the 4 of us & a pilot.  My mom and Nolan chose not to go on the balloon ride, but they would be “chasers” in our private van with our driver and the ground crew as they followed our balloon’s journey across the land until we landed.  I think they have their own stories to tell!

The weather in Napa was high fog and meant a “no-go” for a ride in Napa.  Luckily this balloon company had plan B on hand, and as long as the riders were willing to travel a bit further, we could fly.  So we embarked on a 45-minute van ride to the Yolo County Airport where our balloon crew was just beginning to set up our balloon.  (There were 3 balloons flying from our company and 4 from another company).  I felt completely spoiled as the other balloon baskets had 12+ people in them (mostly strangers) and my balloon basket (though smaller) consisted of Scott, Leah, Lisa and myself and our pilot Russ. 

It was exhilarating watching the balloon get “blown up” and knowing this dream was so close to coming true.  And when I was helped in to the basket I knew this was happening!   Our balloon was soon afloat once my pilot and fellow passengers boarded the basket.  As we lifted higher and higher in the sky, my spirit felt light.  With the exception of our conversations and Russ feeding the balloon more fire, it was soundless up there.  It was a tranquility that is beyond description!  As the balloon soared in the air my heart soared with satisfaction that this adventure was all I’d ever dreamed and more! 

If this item is not on your bucket list-seriously-it needs to be! 

I don’t know how long we floated above the earth, drifting with the currents of the wind.  From above we could see the vans with our “chasers” move from one spot to another as our balloons had a mind of their own.  

Eventually we practiced our “landing positions” in air and about 15-20 minutes later Russ asked us to get in position as our balloon began its descent.  It appeared we’d be landing in an abandoned cornfield!  We squatted a bit lower in hopes of our stopping our basket from tipping over and it looked like success as we glided to the ground, the basket tilted, then up righted itself.  Then it skidded to an approximately 12-inch ditch between the corn rows, tipped and over on its side our basket went-in slow motion.  

For the record-we were all laughing and our pilot was like spider man with his legs and arms outstretched above us so as to not fall on us.  Scott (as our landing position was designated) was on the bottom with us 3 girls leaning on him.  Our pilot removed himself from the balloon first and we crawled out like spiders.  For the record-nobody was injured and Leah’s words as the basket came to a stop before we crawled out, “That was SUPER FUN!”  really fit how all of us felt about our adventurous landing!

We managed to find our ground crew, or they managed to find us hidden in the corn and we made our way back to the hotel for a wonderful champagne brunch.   

Also-as a completely random bit of trivia about our pilot Russ.  He’s from Minnesota and his Dad was a pediatric cardiologist who trained and knew Dr. Caylor-Scott and my pediatric cardiologist when we were kids.  And Russ was the first unofficial echo cardiogram tech in Minnesota as his Dad taught him to use the new machine and had him perform the Echocardiogram on his patients!    So there was totally a reason that first balloon ride 6 years ago was a bust!

The balloon adventure was enough for me for one day and we went to the hotel to rest and then made our way to one of the hotel’s pools to lounge for the afternoon.  We had dinner outside on the gorgeous hotel grounds, getting our yummy food from Ultra Crush Lounge to go.  Went back to the girl’s suite to watch a movie and then call it a night.

The next morning Scott took the kids for the day and my mom, Lisa and I ventured to the luxurious spa for massages, soaking in the hot tub and sauna.  (Ok…I didn’t go in the sauna, but enjoyed the rest of the amenities).  We had a lovely, slow paced morning and early afternoon at the spa with just us ladies and topped it off with a champagne lunch!  Then we floated to our room to pack and head home.  All in all-a grand celebration!