Shop Cloud 9 Living For Holiday Giving {And A Giveaway}

We all have those lists of things we wish we could do or we would "totally do" if given the opportunity. What does yours look like? Me? I'd love to go zip-lining, hiking to waterfalls, drive a race car, go on a helicopter ride, and more. One thing I can strike from my list, though, is riding in a hot air balloon.

I've always been fascinated by hot air balloons and wondered what it would be like to try it. Cloud 9 Living offered me the chance to do that local to my home and I was more than excited to make my appointment. Keep in mind, something like a hot air balloon ride is very touchy and the elements have to be on your side for it to be safe so keep a possible rescheduling in mind should you choose this sort of experience for yourself. I can tell you, though, if you're patient it is most definitely worth it. 

Let me share with you some of my experience. 

 There were 4 balloons that went up the day I had my flight. After the balloons were divided up into groups, we were able to watch our balloons get set up. This was very cool to see and made me all the more excited for my flight.

This was a pretty quick process but it was a lot more work than I thought it would be. I could tell the people taking us up had been doing this for years when I saw how comfortable they were getting the balloons ready to take off. For example, look at the above photo. This was while they were trying to stand my balloon up and I couldn't believe how close they were to the flames. {LOL} 

And right as my balloon was ready to stand up, we all watched the first balloon of people take flight. It was beautiful to see, to say the very least. 

 I hopped into my balloon with our pilot and four other people and we took off. We smoothly glided up and quickly I found myself looking down at the tops of trees and outward at the skyline. In this moment, I was so taken by all I saw. It was quiet, save for the random blow from the propane tanks, and I couldn't do much more than smile.

For a few moments, we could see the other balloons getting ready to take off. It was neat to see a balloon being filled with air from my bird's eye view. Also, the scale of the balloon's size in comparison to even the cars on the ground was just amazing to me. Everything about this experience was breathtaking and incredible.

 As we sailed along, we saw deer running in the woods below us, heard children calling up to us to see someone wave to them, and saw for miles and miles as we looked out from the basket. I saw gorgeous landscapes and went as low as to get the bottom of our basket tickled by the tops of corn stalks in a field we flew over.

As we were flying, we heard someone radio in. It was the basket you see off in the clouds in the picture above. The couple on that hot air balloon had happy news as one very lucky girl was proposed to and said "Yes". {How's THAT for an experience you'll never forget?}

My flight was about an hour long, give or take a few minutes, and we found someone's backyard to land in. The landing was surprisingly smooth but we were warned of the different things that could happen depending on the wind and how it catches the balloon. My basket bounced just once off the ground and then landed smoothly, thanks to the help of the man who was assigned to chasing our balloon and got to us just in time to give us some resistance.

I absolutely did NOT want my ride to end and I would love to do it again. In fact, I came home and told the hubster that we just have to plan on doing that together someday. In a way, something I scratched off my "bucket list" got put right back on with an excited "I want to do that again!".

I would highly recommend giving someone a gift certificate to claim through Cloud 9 Living this holiday season. An experience like this will last a lifetime for someone and is way better than a lot of other things you could buy in stores. Be sure to visit their site and see what experiences are available in your area.

Would you like to win your own experience?? Go over to Cloud 9 Living's facebook page and enter to win in their 9 Days of Christmas Giveaway!! You can tell them I sent ya. ;)

**Thanks to Cloud 9 Living who supplied me with a certificate to use for one hot air balloon ride in exchange for my honest review and sharing about their contest. I did not receive any other compensation for the post. The experience shared is my own. Others may have a different opinion or experience.**