A SURPRISE VISITOR

I was sitting on the back deck enjoying an evening without high temperatures and the need for air conditioning.  It felt wonderful.

I heard it before I saw it and immediately went inside to grab my camera.  I stepped off my deck and caught sight of a hot air balloon heading my way over the rooftops.

It was coming close to the trees in my front yard, so I headed out there to get a close-up.

I'm not sure how the steering works in balloons, but just as I got to the front yard, it veered off to the south.

I could see the balloon had advertising on it for 9&10 news on one side.

I decided to try following it through my neighborhood.  It was always just above the tree line.

It was getting almost out of my camera's reach as I wandered among the evergreens trying to maintain contact.

As I reached the end of my neighboorhood, the balloon was finally high above the last of the homes.  On my walk back to my condo, I thought about what a pleasant surprise this had been.