Grape Escape!!!

I am one blessed girl. I have amazing friends, one of which is Heather. She has invited me, 2 years in a row, to incredible celebrations for HER birthday. This year, for her 40th, she wanted to take a few of us up in a hot air balloon over our beautiful wine country, here in Temecula. She's always wanted to go, and I've never wanted to go. Honestly, I said yes just because I love her. Then I fretted about it for a month. But I also wanted to go to get myself out of my safe little box I live in. I thought I was really wild when I parasailed in the Cayman Islands in my teens. That's the craziest thing I've ever done until this. And I do realize ballooning is very safe. I just don't like heights. Kimberlee doesn't either, so I was thrilled she agreed to go also. Here we are, December 23rd, 2010, in the truck, on the way to our take-off spot. Ready or not....


It was nice to meet Heather's high school friend, Katie (left). She's an OBGYN from San Diego.



Waiting patiently (and a little nervously) for our balloon to be ready... but not the Birthday Girl! Heather has NO fear. Just look at the excitement on her pretty face!


Here we are with our pilot, who happens to love New Mexican green chile as much as I do! His wife is from Albuquerque. Small world!





And we're off! We left from the beautiful South Coast Winery.


Here's our church: The Barn! It's the Calvary Chapel in the wine country.



The fire was so hot that I wondered if my hair-sprayed hair could explode. I think in the 90's it actually might have. It didn't help that I was wearing high-heeled boots. I swear I planned on wearing my flat(ter) ones, but since we were still in the middle of our move, I couldn't find them.






BEAUTIFUL Temecula!!!



Wow... and WOW!!!


Lake Skinner


Ok... Now this was a tad scary. Kimberlee and I both said this was the first time we felt like there was really nothing between us and the ground, 3,000 feet down, except for a basket! Yikes!





We soared above the clouds and sang, "How Great Is Our God." Heather is so wonderful and just loves Jesus so much. She brought each of us a rolled paper with this hymn printed on it, held together with a ring. She's so sweet and asked us all to sing at 3,000 feet! She belted it out, louder than all of us. If our pilot thought we were crazy, he didn't say anything. ;)




The crazy rainstorm we just had left this gorgeous, snow-capped mountain! As we started to descend, I loved these shadows we made.



We landed near Wilson Creek Winery, where our continental breakfast was awaiting us. I can't even believe how awesome this was!


We ended our spectacular morning with a light breakfast and a toast with Wilson Creek's famous Almond Champagne. YUM! Thank you for an amazing time that I will NEVER forget, Heather!!! I hope your 40th birthday was all that you dreamed it would be.