Plano Balloon Festival

Miss Daisy




Zoopendous




Woodrow-C-Greenleaf




Oggy



Lonestar




High-Jack



Dallas Morning News

I had heard this way going on a couple of weeks ago and thought it would be neat to go out with Sydney and see what it was all about. I decided to invite Rebecca to come along for the visit with the condition that she would be okay waking up at the "butt crack of dawn."

I set my alarm for 5am and decided to sleep in 15 more minutes then at 5:15 turned on the light and was like everybody up. We got dressed and were out the door and on the way to Plano by 5:30 a.m.

We arrived at the location at about 6:00 a.m., parked and got our tickets to get in. The actual balloon lift off was not scheduled until 7am so we walked around for a little bit and then found a spot to sit on some tables right in front of the viewing area, which would turn out to be an open field where the balloons would begin arriving, setting up, and eventually lifting off.

We sat there for a while, bracing the early morning chill and fog that was settling. Then, we saw the first vehicle pull into the open field and park literally right in front of us and next thing we knew, the basket where the driver or any riders would be in, was brought out. For a while, this was the only balloon out there - they tested the burner for a while which was a neat sight.

The balloon we sat there watching for a while was "Woodrow C Greenleaf." The balloon was not like your normal round ones, this one turned out to be a tree with a tucan and a parrott on its limbs. It was really a neat balloon and HUGE. Unfortunately due to a lack of wind that morning and possibly because of the size of this thing, Mr. Greenleaf was unable to make it up into the skies for us to see.

The balloon that I had my sights on seeing was "Miss Daisy." As the name implies, she was in the shape of a flower - absolutely gorgeous and very big as well. Unfortunately too, for the morning liftoff, we were unable to view her.

Other neat balloons were: "Oggy," who was a shape of a dinosaur or dragon type deal, and "High Jack," who was a face of a pirate.

A neat regular balloon to see was "Lone Star." As the name would imply, this was a bright yellow balloon with the State of Texas flags all around it.

Overall I think we got to see about 45 balloons lift off. Some of them flew really, really high, while others seemed to be a bit more precautious and hang low.

Out of the three of us that went, I think I might have had the most fun. It was definitely a sight to see and I'm hoping next year to make it out again but this time during one of the evening lift offs to see them put a "glow" show along with fireworks.