Hot Air Balloon Painting

If you've been reading my blog for awhile, then you know I have a 'thing' for hot air balloons. Here's my first Hot Air Balloon Painting...it might become a series. Not sure what to title it yet. Any suggestions?

catch up

im gonna play a little catch up on photos. i snatched these from nick's camera. most if not all were taken by him. alright. here are a few more pics from nyc.

parking is a BE- ach!

reading "the ugly duckling"

so many parks. i cant remember which one this is. one of the few pics of us together (that we didnt take)

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the road to our house/barn... more hot air balloons

goofin' around! what i do best

copy cat! he he

on a bike ride (same as the one above) around this pretty (and private) lake. probably my favorite "trail" out here, but we can't likely go back. :(

these two are from one of his many bike rides alone

this was a monumental day for me. not such a good pic but it's a reminder of what i can accomplish. we were on one of the many trails at Bent Creek, this one we had taken only once before. see, i typically don't take too many risks. period. ive been taking more risks lately in life, sometimes still in baby steps. i typically dont jump curbs even when it leaves me hopping off my bike in the middle of the street. but.... on this day, everything just lined up. i was flying down the trail behind nick (as i usually do follow him, maybe less pressure. not sure). i had just shortly before rode over (and through) a half eroded log that lay across the road. nothing too impressive, or anything i hadnt done before. but it was kind of a building up to this next step. so i was having a good time, mastered (ha ha) the "half log", had some speed built up coming down the decline, see another log (full/solid this time), think "am i gonna try it", see nick clear it, see 2 bikes heading towards us on the other side.... have only a sec to decide... do i brake really fast, jump off my bike and pull it over the log while (since the trails are narrow) the others wait and watch me... or ... do i go for it and try to clear the log, hoping i dont really make a fool of my self and get hurt in the process with this lovely audience. well, nick stopped to get over for the other bikers and is now also half watching me (he probably didnt think i was going to do it) but I DID! i came flying down, hopped over the log, caught a little air, felt the rush, realized i better keep control of the bike on the landing, hollard "shit!" and landed perfectly! very exciting. ... (if you look closely, i already had some small bruises on my shin where the petal got me in the air, but i got my foot back on it before landing, thank goodness). ill take the bruises! it was worth it!

so i frowned upon picture taking during this endeavor, but since its so far away... its ok. this was taken a couple weeks ago on our 2nd backpacking trip. we didnt realize the river we had to cross was soooo high. i pulled my pant legs up as high as i could, but unfortunately my arse still got wet. (and then it rained the rest of the trip. fun times)

good pic. taken before trying the 'aweful'...strong martini and being shut down on our card game. according to the bartender, it is illegal to play cards in an establishment that sells liquor. weird! i did a little researching and was unable to find any proof of such a law. (we continue to play cards in other bars.)

havin' fun

belaying in my nifty new helmet. safety first :)

Sunday Beauty

Yesterday morning I glanced out my kitchen window and saw this. I was so excited that I grabbed my camera, kicked off my slippers, and ran outside in my pajamas to capture a picture. I love hot air balloons! It was a pretty grey morning, but I'm sure they were still enjoying themselves. I think it took off from the field next to the farm house.

Later we drove to Linville Gorge which is known to some as the Grand Canyon of the East. We hiked and then did a little climbing in Devil's Cellar. (i'm pretty rusty) It was absolutely beautiful. The mountains and valleys were frosted with trees of every color. I day dreamed of flying over the trees with the sun shining down the valleys.

The paths we follow. Never know the beauty and wonder it might lead to.

Devil's Cellar (above)





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and these last 2 are a couple Nick took

the Outer Banks

Since we are homeless this week, we decided to spend it away from Asheville. We woke up Monday morning and said to ourselves..."where do we want to go?" We checked the weather all over the east coast. Friday is my birthday and I want to do something unique and fun. A hot air balloon ride has been on my bucket list since I was a kid and thought this would be a great way to celebrate. So then I started searching for Hot Air Balloon Festivals. I think a sky filled with balloons is just so beautiful. There are a few going on in the US on friday, but we didn't want to drive all the way to TX, etc. There are quite a few out east closer to the end of the month. But hey, your birthday is your birthday. AND it's on a Friday this year, too.

We still hadn't decided for sure where we were headed, but figured we better start headin' there. :) So we decided to head to the coast, possibly the Outer Banks. I had never heard of the Outer Banks before. Nick drove first and I was on the internet researching the different islands. What the differences were, and so forth. I was even looking at cheap last minute flights to where ever. We decided on Hatteras Island, NC.

We love B&B's so we looked into those. We didn't make it to town til almost 9pm so we decided to check into a hotel/motel (with good reviews) at least for one night then check out the B&B's the next morning. The bed ended up being more comfortable at the hotel, plus an awesome view of the ocean, pool and hottub, walk right down to the beach, full kitchen, and great price (deal for staying so many nights). So we are staying in the hotel the whole time. And we are staying til Saturday so I'll be here for my Bday. So if anyone wants to come surprise me, ha ha, you know where I'll be.


Nick is working this week with hope of getting some time off Friday to spend with me. I spent the first day being lazy by the pool and at the beach. Yesterday we road our bikes to this old light house that had 257 steps up a winding staircase that we got to climb to the top. Pretty neat. Neither of us are afraid of heights and we did fine climbing it. But a short while after it was all done, we were walking around the museum next to it and we both admitted our legs felt kind of wobbly for some reason. I figure it was the excitement mixed with the exercise that caused it.





Then last night we went for a hike in a coastal reserve. It supposedly took us to the top of a sand dune where we could look down into a "interdunal" pond with lots of wild life. It was so over grown that I didn't even stop to look down because I was sure that could not be what they were talking about. It was a nice trail all the same.


Today we are going to take a ferry (car and all!) to the next island down, and spend the day in a quaint little village there called Ocracoke. I'll be shopping while he works in a coffee shop (for the most part).

Friday we are going parasailing (no, hot air balloon rides available :( ) in the morning, I'm getting a 90 minute massage in the afternoon, and then a yummy diner that night. I haven't found any live music (other than karaoke) that night. I'll keep trying.