July 31, 2005 The NJ Festival of Ballooning at the Solberg Airport, Readington, NJ. Another fun activity, this festival has at least a hundred hot air balloons, antique cars, music venues, arts and crafts and of course food. Balloons go up at dawn and dusk, when the air currents are most stable. Paddy and I had attended the festival a number of times, so this trip's fun was to chase balloons from start to landing. It is a very popular sport as the back roads were clogged with traffic.
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1: Balloons went off at 7 PM from the Solberg Airport and Paddy and I saw the direction in which the wind was carrying them.
2: Several miles away we found a great viewing spot where the balloons were traveling toward us.
3-5: They were pretty and they were very close to our vantage point.
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6-8: Paddy and I decided to chase the "Children's Miracle Network" balloon because history showed us that the crew caters to demonstrations for kids.
9-10: The balloon crew asked the kids if they would help push the air out of the balloon so they could pack it away. They responded with glee and everyone had a real ball helping out.
Click HERE to see the 2009 NJ Balloon Festival