My friend Brenda recently bought a condo a hop, skip and a jump from Forest Park, and she had a housewarming party to begin the night. We started off with some yummy snacks and adult beverages (except for me...big 5K Sunday!) When the sun went down, we started the trek through the forest past the History Museum and the racquetball courts, down the hill and past the Muny and over to the ball fields. It took us only 15 or so minutes to walk over there.
Let me just say that walking through Forest Park in the dark is not the best of ideas. It's never a good idea on any given night, due to possible random hooligans looking to cause trouble. But, it's also not a good idea, no matter the amount of people, because you're walking through crap you can't SEE. Shortly after we passed the bright lights of Lindell and the History Museum, it became quite clear that I would end up breaking or spraining something. I could barely see my own feet, let alone the ground and its possible death traps. We pretty much followed the mob of people, but at times, there were no more streets or sidewalks to lead the way. We just took off down a grassy knoll and hoped for the best. And for some reason, we were all walking like we had rabid dogs chasing us. I don't know why we were walking so fast, but I didn't want to lose our group in the masses, so I had to keep up.
At one point we were walking down a large dark hill and I took a wrong step and landed about a foot past where I thought my foot should have stopped. Sonuva. I'm not sure how I stayed upright or how I didn't sprain or twist anything. Good grief. I've been training for this 5K for 4 months. If less than 48 hours before the race, I hurt myself, I'm gonna be pissed.
Somehow, miraculously, we made it across the park to where the Glow was taking place. Basically, the Balloon Glow is just an opportunity for people to drink, eat bad food, let their children run wild, and oh yeah, see hot air balloons up close and in person. It's actually pretty impressive when walking up the hill and seeing all the balloons lit up like Christmas trees. Well, giant Christmas trees lit up with butane. I don't think anyone with us had seen hot air balloons up close and I certainly hadn't see one all lit up at night.
Of course, to stay inflated, you need to light up the burners, or the balloon itself will start to fall. Each balloon was randomly hitting the "gas" to light up, but occasionally every couple of minutes, a horn would sound, and all of the balloons would light up at once. It was pretty damn cool.
When we were coming up the hill, I didn't think we'd be able to get right up to the balloons. I assumed they'd be roped off, and we'd have to walk around the perimeter with every other Tom, Dick & Harry. Nope, you could walk right up to each basket and have a chat with the people inside if you wanted. Of course, they were pretty busy trying not to lift off the ground, but the fact that everyone could be so close, was pretty cool.
Our group was pretty fascinated at how hot the butane really was...and we were several feet away from the balloons. Me, being the Miss Fancy Pants that I am, got to explain the process and about how hot they really are. I'm not sure I was helpful. I may have just sounded like a know-it-all, but whatever. I like to share my bucket list knowledge.
I'm a fan of the balloons that are shaped like something other than a balloon. One had ears for a bear, another was shaped like a box of popcorn, and another was the legendary Energizer Bunny that leads the race every year. It was really fun to get to see all of them up close and personal.
We didn't really stay around the balloons all that long, since we got there towards the end of the display. But, we had a good time. Afterwards, we headed back up the hill to await the display of fireworks. Unfortunately, they were pretty weak (of course, I compare them to the ones downtown on the 4th, so anything is weak compared to that!), but still enjoyable nonetheless.
On our way up to wait for the fireworks, Brenda fell right into a giant gopher hole. I'm not even kidding. One second, she's walking right next to me, and the next, her foot is in a hole all the way up to her knee cap, and she's collapsed on the ground. She said nothing was broken and that she didn't hurt herself, but considering the alcohol intake, I'm not sure if that was a truth. :) (Love you B.) One foot to the left and I would have been the one going down into that hole.
We had an absolutely gorgeous night to enjoy the festivities and I'm glad now that I was able to see the Glow.
Thanks to Brenda for throwing her housewarming party and inviting me along to the Balloon Glow. It was lots of fun!
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