Is a Hot Air Balloon Ride on Your Bucket List?

If so, the Finger Lakes region is a great place to make it happen!

I confess that I had never contemplated taking a trip in a basket, levitated by air warmed to make it lighter than the ambient atmosphere.  Maybe because my maiden surname is Gale – which I share with the iconic figure Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz – and we all know that her attempt to return to Kansas in one was less than favorable.  But there wasn’t a negative connotation associated with the experience – I certainly admired the beauty of the crafts I had seen floating by in the sky – but it just never occurred to me to try it out.

Paul on the other hand – had it firmly on his list of must-dos.  Those who know him are aware of his penchant for activities tinged with a bit of danger and risk.  And you also know that he emerged from the womb as a mechanical engineer – fascinated by anything with moving parts, or that can defy gravity by harnessing various mechanical and aerodynamic forces!  We recently visited the Curtiss Museum in nearby Hammondsport, and sometimes I wonder if Paul might be Glenn Curtiss reincarnated.

They share a love of bicycling, the ability to fix any bicycle issue, and a knack for not just repairing mechanical devices, but for designing them and improving their functionality.

During the summer after 8^th grade, Paul and his best friend and partner in crime, Andrew Nock, spent a week building a hot air balloon.  Their rudimentary geometry knowledge was put to use designing the newspaper panels that formed the three-dimensional shape of the balloon.  It was about 6 feet in diameter, and 12 feet high.  Paul’s father, also a mechanical engineer, and the chief safety inspector of the project, was concerned that it might catch on fire – so he insisted that they paint the newspaper with flame retardant.  The balloon was fashioned out of their strategically designed and fabricated newspaper panels, joined together with Elmers Glue.

On launch day, Paul and Andrew ran a pipe out of a second story window of Paul’s house in Shorewood, Wisconsin, with a string running through it, connected to the top of the balloon.  They pulled the string to lift the balloon to its full height and then started to fill it with hot air.  The source of this hot air was a shop vacuum whose outlet ran through a coffee can filled with burning charcoal. (The shop vacuum hose was a casualty of the project – it melted!)  As soon as the balloon was inflated with hot air and began to lift, the boys attempted to free it for flight by cutting the raising string with a razor blade attached to a board.  But alas – the board flopped around and punched a hole in the balloon!  So, their creation never made the majestic ride it was designed to perform.

All that considered, I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised when Paul started researching hot air balloon rides near Seneca Lake.  And when his twin brother Pete Fromm* and his wife, Rose Powers came to visit us from their home in Missoula, Montana last fall, Paul was quick to suggest that their trip to the Finger Lakes should include a bird’s-eye view of Ithaca during peak leaf color season.

Paul stumbled upon the well-reviewed Southern Tier Balloon Tours, captained by the experienced balloon pilot, Dar Farzhad.  As a young boy, Dar became fascinated with hot air balloons, eventually becoming so passionate about this unique mode of travel that he started a company dedicated to providing others with this beautiful experience in a safe and peaceful way.

And Paul, not just a great mechanical engineer, but a pretty darn good salesman as well, convinced us that a hot air balloon ride would be well worth the cost.  We arranged a sunset ride, and invited our son, Jack, to accompany his parents and aunt and uncle on the journey.  All but Paul arrived at the launch field outside of Ithaca with a bit of trepidation.  But as soon as the basket started its slow, steady ascent into the brilliant blue sky, all fears I had disappeared.  The feeling of weightlessness, and the sight of the earth moving increasingly farther away was just so awesome!  And as I lifted my gaze to the horizon and beyond, the unfolding of the beautiful fall landscape was a sight to behold.  It was easy to track the shadow of the balloon against the hillside dappled with the vibrant reds, yellows and oranges of the surrounding trees – and it was breathtaking.

Dar, the ultimate professional, kept us informed throughout the ride of our course and narrated the storyline of the landscape that we were passing over.  He also checked in with the local airport to report on our journey, so they knew we were out amongst the other aircraft in the area.

I was surprised to realize that after lift-off, the balloon pilot is quite reliant on the wind – both its direction and speed – to determine the course of each voyage.  Dar had a great crew to support him, who traveled with a truck pulling the trailer which is the home of the balloon when it isn’t soaring, and a van to transport us passengers back to the launch field at the end of the trip.  He kept in contact with the crew to let them know where we were heading and where we would likely land.  That fall day, Dar set his sights on a farmer’s field, and he asked his crew to go to the door of the farmhouse to get permission to land there!

At the end of the ride, Dar treated us to some complimentary champagne, and we said a blessing for the next Southern Tier Balloon Tour excursion – fitting, since the passengers of the ride before us recited a similar blessing on our behalf as well.  And then we made our way back in a comfortable van to the launch field, basking in the feeling of joy and well-being that seems endemic to the hot-air balloon experience.

And recently, when two more of Paul’s siblings came to stay at Sunrise Landing – his brother Joe Fromm, and his lovely wife Betsy Koonce, from Minneapolis, MN along with Paul’s sister, Terry Fromm**, from Houston, TX – guess what he suggested we do?  Another balloon ride with Southern Tier Balloon Tours!

This time Dar was able to navigate us through the gorge that is the infamous Buttermilk Falls – and it was such a picturesque journey.  Without the initial anxiousness that accompanied my first hot air balloon trip, I was able to fully enjoy the beauty that this journey presented me with.  Like our prior experience, the landing was a bit uncertain, but the inhabitants of this beautiful area were again generous in lending the use of their property to us balloon passengers for a touchdown.   And this time, the champagne toast and blessing of the riders who would come after us, was even more meaningful than before.

So, if a hot-air balloon ride is on your bucket list, or even if it isn’t, I hope the stunning landscape of the Finger Lakes inspires you to book the experience!  And if you are looking for a company to facilitate your journey who is extremely skilled in their craft and whose mission is to provide a great experience with the utmost of safety, I highly recommend STB (Southern Tier Balloon Tours).  Dar and his team are the BEST!

 

*If you’ve browsed the reading material in the living room at Sunrise Landing, you’ve likely seen some of Pete‘s books – one is a memoir called Indian Creek Chronicles, where Paul appears.

**If you’ve had breakfast at Sunrise Landing in 2024 or 2025, you may have noticed the beautiful napkin rings we use on the place settings.  They were handcrafted by Paul’s sister Terry, a talented metal artist.