The balloon ride....after we took off :)

Here are photos after we take off. I think we had 18 people + the pilot in the balloon. As I said, it was freaking cold. The flame which got us in the air was the only heat source for us but then I think it really kept us warmer at times. Our partner balloon somehow had some problems starting up. They took longer to inflate the balloon and didn't take off until we were high in the air already....so I had a chance taking photos of them while we were flying...

Here is our attempt taking photo of ourselves and the scenery....I have to say it's not easy to get what we see when we want our faces in the photos...Billy took a shot of me with the neighboring balloon and the scenery...

Since we went really early in the morning, we actually had the chance to see sunrise in the air...quite amazing...and the rest of photos are beautiful sights we got to see while ride the balloon :)


The next two photos were taken by Billy. He liked the ball looking trees and the shadows a lot I think....and I liked the 2nd photo he took a lot...

I took this one cuz I thought the photo made the trees look like they were running toward the rocks...

Here are the photos with our balloon shadow :)


This is the water reservoir that provides the water for Sedona....looks kinda small from up there..

An old couple was in the same section with us in the basket and the grandpa took photos for us....1st one was obviously not too successful with the shadows....and the 2nd one was only ok too since he didn't get much other than our big heads....Billy just decided to take one of ourselves from below so we could get the inside of the balloon.

The sun got brighter as we flew, and our partner balloon kept on being a very good target for my photos.....They once got really close to the road and later very close to us. I was able to take a picture where you can clearly see the passengers....very cool photo that was....


We were told the snow we saw was around Flagstaff, which was the ski area some distance away from Sedona. I forgot to mention....one thing I don't like about Sedona is the air condition. Whatever photos I took always turned out to look kinda dusty with the air...anyway...I would prefer much clearer sky if I had any choice....:p

Here are 4 photos we took in the balloon. Why did we take 4? cuz I was worried the self photo taking technic of Billy might not be perfect and I wanted good photos....but then all 4 turned out to be good and most people probably can't see the differences anyway....lol


After we landed the balloon company actually prepared a nice picnic for us with champagne (with real glasses too....we were impressed), muffins, and fruits at this recreation area. The wife of that old couple we had balloon ride with took a shot for us which turned out to be decent even though not much of the red rocks can be seen....

Billy then tried to take a shot of ourselves and the result turned out to be funny cuz of the shadow of the camera right on his face....and then the 2nd try was better but I couldn't open my eyes due to the sun. The last 2 pictures are us holding our balloon ride certificates....yeah....like we did anything other than taking photos and enjoy the scenery....but Anyway....I think these are all the photos I am gonna put up here. We just took too many and I don't think I want to upload all of them. This should be enough for the balloon ride :) Will continue with rest of the trip later.....

Sedona Trip Day 1....and the day 2 balloon ride...the part before we take off...

Ok....so here is our Sedona trip, and I guess I will write it with several blogs since there are too many photos to post....here is day one....plus a little bit from day 2....

Basically Day 1 is just a lot of driving....We left home around 10 in the morning since we had to wait for Hades to finish going to rest room and all....We spent around 8 + hours on the car cuz the traffic was crazy at one part. We didn't really know if it was road construction or accident since we saw nothing along the way...Here are some photos I took on the road. The 1st one is weird smokes that I saw around Phoenix I think. After we got gas and left Phoenix I think it was already getting dark. The next two photos are the shots I took with car lights in motions...I know...not many people can appreciate this kinda art....oh well...I like them...


For our 1st meal after we arrived Sedona, we chose a place close to our hotel cuz I was worried Hades would go crazy in the room. (He did....but then we just couldn't bring him to dinner anyway...) I liked how they put the butter into small balls. My dinner was the crab cakes with weird crackers. Billy got ribeye steak with weird sauce on the top. The meat itself was not bad though....We finished dinner REALY fast to get back to Hades. He was basically nervous for the whole night except for a min he stayed on the bed and actually looked like he enjoyed his vacation....yeah....the outside appearance can be so deceiving....lol

2nd day we had to wake up really early because of the hot air balloon ride, which is the only reason why I think this trip can really be cool. I have to be honest I am not too into all the red rocks, but was really looking fwd to the balloon ride. Here are some photos before we got on the balloon. We had to wake up before 6, but we were told it's usually much earlier if it's not winter time. In the winter the balloon can also stay in the air longer compared to hotter weather. I think the ride time was around 1& 1/2 hour, which was considered long. I guess we just picked the best time to get the ride :)

Here are some photos before the balloon was fully inflated. The workers had to set it up for about 1/2 hour. The morning tempuarature was really low and I was freezing. I never thought the freaking hot Arizona from my memory can be sooooo cold in the winter...but it was!!!! The hot air balloon company had two balloons so that was really nice for me to take photos in the air. The pilot said there are only 4 balloons total in Sedona and their company owns 2. I guess we were also lucky for picking the biggest company here :)

Ok here are two photos of us before we took off. The workers took those photos for us. I looked like I just woke up...and I guess not having enough sleep for days does make a person look bad...Anyway....that is it for now...I will continue the rest of the balloon ride in next blog.