What a beautiful ride! The only downside to the excursion is having to wake up at the crack of dawn but it is so worth it! We met everyone at the local Safeway where we boarded the van that would take us to the launching location. Once a good location was found (after launching helium balloons at other locals to test wind) we all unloaded and waited for our balloon to inflate. There were at least 5 other balloons in that field also going up. It was so beautiful with the sun coming up over the horizon. The basket was much bigger than I anticipated. There were 14 of us in the basket, including the pilot. The basket is divided into 4 corners and then a center strip for the pilot. It was really interesting to see how the balloon is inflated first using fans, then using the bursts of heat from the flames. Took no time at all and then we were all loading into the basket. FYI, there wasn't a door to get in, you have to climb in using 2 footholds. Once we were all in, the balloon started to rise. It is such a smooth ride. People were moving around in their own corner sections of the balloon but you couldn't feel any change to the ballast. The view! The view is just spectacular! You can see for miles and miles and miles and it's so quiet up there with only the hiss of the fire to interrupt the silence when needed. The pilot, Randy, was very nice and chatted away the entire time pointing out points of interest and telling how the balloon works. I felt very safe and secure in the balloon. His landing crew was nice and took pics of us with our own cameras before we went up and Randy took our pics while we were up in the air. The landing was just a couple bumps and then we were down. Even though Randy radioed ahead to his crew, it was going to take them about 20 minutes to get to our location so we all decided to help Randy deflate the balloon. Then when the crew showed up, they finished with the balloon while we ate the breakfast provided on folding picnic tables. There were hard boiled eggs, pastries, fruit and champagne and OJ. The crew did a great job so don’t forget to tip them if you enjoyed yourself. They also have merchandize for sale, so I bought a T-shirt for $15 to add to my ever increasing collection. Awesome, Awesome, Awesome, totally recommend to anyone.