Arizona is growing on me... up, up, and away

One thing Arizona has that many other states do not is wide open sky that is uncluttered by forests and other obstructions.  Seriously, most places that you go here are all one story, maybe 2 story tops, buildings.  Except for the downtown Phoenix areas, the palm trees tend to be the only tall things.  When you get to the outskirts of the cities, there is nothing but dirt and cactus.

So, what do you do out in the "dirt and cactus", you ask?  Well, I don't go out into the desert on foot.  There are hiking, biking, and motorcycling adventures, but I prefer to watch.  (My hiking tends to be from apartment to restaurant to errand shopping, or strolling through museums and other venues.)

Here's what I watch.

In the mornings and evenings, while driving to and from the school libraries that I service, I watch hot air balloons.  I've never lived anywhere that provided this sight.  There is something relaxing about watching hot air balloons rise slowly, bold colors against the blue sky, shining in the sunlight.  Sometimes they are far away and I find myself counting them and squinting to see if I can find them all.  Once I saw eight all in a row.  They were in various stages of ascent as the sun was coming up and they seemed to be heading up into the canyons between the mountains that surround Phoenix.

They kind of tease your imagination; what would it be like (if I wasn't terrified of heights), how far can the occupants see, does your breathing become labored, is it a lot colder than here on the ground, and of course, can you just cower on the floor until they finally relent to your screams of hysteria and land?

My current belief is that it is much more pleasant to watch these graceful fliers from the ground.  And, I wanted to show you some of them, but these "creatures" are extremely difficult to photograph because they tend to be sooo far away.  But, here's what I have for you.

In preparation, imagine you are going down the highway at 70 mph and suddenly see these beauties after rounding a curve.  Or, as happened to me, you stop at a stoplight in an outlying town and happen to look to the left.  There is a huge balloon, decorated in rich primary colors coming toward you, as if it is following the road and about to cross in front of you - 100 feet in the air.

I wish that I could provide more photos that really showed more of what you experience when you come upon these floating beauties while you are driving, but my phone is not able to capture what I see and, frankly, it's illegal.  [No drivers or vehicles were hurt in the photographing of these balloons.]

I was stopped at a stoplight as I drove back up Carefree Highway to the Interstate..  No sign warned me to yield to balloons.

The balloon had almost crossed the road before the light turned green and I had to head out again.

I pulled off before I got on to Highway 303 to take these photos.  The balloon was coming down and would have landed across the road at the Balloon flight school.  This is very near to the largest body of water in the area - Lake Pleasant.  The view must have been incredible and you could see for miles in this clear air.  If you look closely, you'll see another balloon to the right in three of these pictures.