Hot Air Balloon Ride over the Dordogne!

Taking a hot air balloon ride had been a dream of mine since before I can remember, probably inspired by one of my favorite childhood books, The Fantastic Flying Journey. Pete and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary during Fall break and in my research of "Romantic things to do in the Dordogne," I learned that there are hot air ballon rides in the region. I was hesitant to book one for us because of the high cost, but when I revisited the website, there was a link to be put on a waitlist for last-minute discount rides (basically filling empty spots in balloons already scheduled to go up). I wasn't even sure that the webform was working, so I was quite surprised when I got a call while in St. Emilion, inviting us to go up that very first night of our trip. The only catch was that it was nearly 2pm and the balloon was going up at 4:30pm and we were 2 hours away. We conferred with Nana and Pops and decided that we should go for it! It meant high tailing it to our rental house and dropping the kids off in a rush while my parents checked us in. Once that stressful part was behind us, it was time to spend the rest of the day basking in the awesome experience.

When I see couples go up on the Bachelor (my reference point for all things romantic, obviously), the balloons are just there waiting for them so the whole set up process was a fun surprise. First, a helium balloon was sent up from our first launching site. It was not a windy day, but after waiting some time, it was noted that the balloon was floating in a direction that would not allow us to pass by a castle, so it was decided that we would drive to a second launching site. I was pleased by this because I knew a later departure would give us the best chance of seeing the sunset from the air and also because the new launch site was at the foot of a beautiful chateaux (privately owned by Texans), so the views were really nice while we waited for the balloons to inflate.

The set up process was very hands on for Pete and the other men in the group.  The basket was hauled off of the trailer, turned on its side, and large fans were set up to start inflating the giant balloon. It wasn't until the balloon was nearly full that any hot air was added. Once a bit of warm air was added, the basket was turned upright and we climbed our way in. The ballooner had his own little compartment in the basket and then the rest of the space was divided in two- 3 people in each section. All of the others in our balloon were French so there was a lot of conversation that we missed out on. Our company sent up two balloons simultaneously and 2 others were already afloat from another company. The other balloon had an older American couple aboard, who we later found out were from a town very close to where I grew up.

Then it was up, up and away! I expected to go up and stay up, but the ballooner had us constantly ascending and descending over the course of the hour+ long tour. We barely skimmed the surface of the Dordogne river, the Marqueyssac Gardens, and the top of another private chateaux. Later in the week, we would see balloons go right past our rental house in La Roque-Gageac. It was a shame ours didn't as the kids were apparently outside with Nana and Pops looking for us. The rest of the week, Maeve would see if ballons and point and say "Mommy!  Daddy!" I hope she didn't think we were just going to float away from her forever!

Balloon selfie with Beynac Castle in the background. 

Our town is down on the left in this photo, built into the ochre yellow cliffs.

With the sun low on the horizon, we began making our descent. The other balloon found a sensible field, while we kept cruising onward. We ended up with a gentle landing into the bowl-like field shown below. Lovely setting while we put the balloon away (all hands on deck), but then the van with the weight of the trailer couldn't get out of the bowl! So we waited 15 minutes or so as the van driver and balloon attempted to get out! Finally, success, just as we started to wonder if they were going to have to call in for back up. A drive back to the cars and a toast of sparkling wine. So happy to have gotten a chance to experience this in such a beautiful place on an equally beautiful evening.

Heave, ho!