I Almost Missed “First Hot Air Balloon Day”

I just visited google.com and do you know what day it is today (for another 45 minutes anyway)? First Hot Air Balloon Day!!!

My sista took the above shot. Go here to see more.

Edited to add: I was wrong. The day is today, June 4. HItSearch wrote this,

“A man-made craft flew for the first time on June 4, 1783. Invented by the Montgolfier brothers, this aérostat was a huge hot-air balloon made of paper and cloth that drifted for more than a mile and landed after 10 minutes.” Go here to for the rest of the blurb about hot air balloons.

There are only 2,780,000 hits for first hot air balloon.

I wish I had time to read even some of these entries, but I truly need to get to bed. Maybe I’ll be able to do some research for next year. And as part of that research I’ll just have to go on another hot air balloon ride. Wanna come?

Guess what book I found last week while weeding out some books? The Mystery Of The Hot Air Balloon by Gertrude Chandler Warner. (There are some for sale for as little as one penny.) This is a Boxcar Children book. Of course I sneaked in the time to read this quick-read book.

I even learned two things from the book about hot air balloons.

• One competitive race is called, Hare and Hounds. One balloon is chosen (by lottery) to be the “hare;” it takes off first and then lands. The “hounds” follow. Whoever lands closest to the hare wins.
• Soo Lee, the cousin of the Boxcar children asked, “Why do the balloonists like to fly so early?’ She was told that “dawn and sunset are the best times {because} the sun has an effect on the wind…During the middle of the day, the breezes are usually too strong” (p. 115).

My own hot air balloon ride did not involve a mystery or surprise landing (as found in The 21 Balloons). But it did involve a love story, generosity, and sacrifice. That makes for a good read (and life) – don’t you think?