Ernie takes Necessity down, and I head up to a few thousand feet  to admire the view.

And then I drop down a bit, letting my balloon bouquet carry over the tops of the clouds.

The morning winds are quieting, and I want to land before the real wind comes up from the west.  I land in the park at Lake Skinner.  Crew meets me there, and we spend an hour letting the crew go up on tether

Necessity lands about a mile away, at the edge of some vineyards.

It was a strange, seeing something as familiar my hot-air balloon from a whole new point of view.  The new perspective reminded me of how pretty it is.... and how BIG.  And the excitement and novelty of being perched up on top of it reminded me of my first few flights in a hot-air balloon, when just being in the basket was a great adventure.  That's the wonder of perspective, giving you back what you had before -- the same, but new and different, too.