Our Last, Fun-Filled Day With Abe and Klarissa

One thing we've learned about Abe through the years is that he loves surprises and apparently Klarissa does as well because they both had a big surprise up their sleeves for us the last day we were there. They tricked us into believing it was going to be so worth it to get up super early (4:15 a.m. for us) so we could pick them up at their apartment and then drive out to this "fabulous place" for breakfast when it opened "so we wouldn't have to stand in line". After seeing the line at Dottie's, we were believing them, although couldn't believe they found a place an hour away when there were so many places right in the city where we could have eaten and had much more time to sleep in. After all, it was a holiday that day!

Once we arrived at our destination--20 minutes early, I might add--Abe and Klarissa hopped out and were soon back in the car with a clipboard, a pen and a waiver that they were anxious for us to sign. At that point it became apparent what they were up to. We were supposed to sign away our life so we could go up in a hot air balloon. And our fabulous breakfast turned out to be some measly muffins and hot chocolate while waiting for our instructions on what we were about to do.


Since the Napa valley was fogged in that morning, they had to transport us 40 minutes away to do our ballooning in Winters. So, instead of flying over vineyards, we flew high above some orchards and farm land. We got to go in the first balloon.


Here we are leaving the ground.


Three happy people who were experiencing ballooning for the first time.


Here's our pilot, JP. He was informative and entertaining and seemed to know what he was doing up in the air.


These next pictures are taken high above the ground. Note the shadow of our balloon in the middle photo.




JP made a successful, albeit bumpy, landing in some random farmer's field. I was impressed he had avoided hitting the fence and his goal was to land as close to a road as possible. He didn't make it as close as this photo might suggest. This was taken after his helpers had dragged the basket from the field to the road. His crew got busy getting all the air out of the balloon so they could load it on the truck.



After our 40 minute ride back to where we started, we were then able to enjoy the champaigne brunch that was promised after our return back to earth. JP was not only our pilot in the air, but he turned into our waiter on land. I guess the kids hadn't told us a complete lie. We did FINALLY get a good breakfast that morning. And after all that time, it sure made me happy that we'd been given some muffins to hold us over.


Look at the cute sweetie pies that Glen and Abe were hanging out with all day.


Here the three of us are about to share a couple of Sweetie Pie treats which absolutely did not appeal to Glen at all.


From that exciting, exhilerating activity, we moved on to the next one. This one involved lots of hiking--straight up a mountain! It was a lot of work! We went to see Cataract Falls and it was beautiful. We started at the bottom and hiked our way all the way to the top. At least one of us enjoyed taking a little breather on a bench after hiking for quite some time and wondering if we would EVER get there.




And what was our reward once we got to the top of the mountain? An open meadow and an OUTHOUSE!! No--there were no bear sightings. That bear-ish looking thing in the clearing is a dog that looked like a bear. Sure glad its owner had it on a leash when it came up behind me on the trail!



As usual, Glen has a hard time leaving work behind. Here he is "enjoying nature" with his Blackberry.


The last thing on our agenda was dinner at House of Prime Rib. The kids surprised us about that as well and didn't reveal our destination until we were right there. We had one meat-loving man in our company who was extremely happy about that dinner decision. Klarissa and I ate our small pieces of meat and fish while the guys got their fill--and then some--of their huge bloody, red beef.



Thanks for a fun (although can't say "relaxing") vacation, Abe and Klarissa!!!