magical adventures

Our balloon-ride was actually in July, 2011 - not 2013 as indicated - but I wasn't a member of TA then so I thought I'd submit a review now even though our experience wasn't a recent one. I must say that I'm very surprised to be the first to review this activity (in Del Mar). Hopefully there will be many more.When we went in 2011 we had a simply amazing experience. I had been planning this for 10 years. What I mean is that I had first committed in my mind to doing this 10 years previously but our children were very young then and I wanted it to be a whole-family experience so I held off, and held off over various vacations until the time seemed right to do it on our SoCal vacation that summer. It also happened to coincide with our 20th anniversary (+ 3 weeks but close enough) so the timing seemed perfect.What made it even more special was that it was a surprise for my family, who had no inkling whatsoever that I had ever even entertained a thought about it. My wife and I had never discussed it or even talked about the prospect from a "wouldn't that be neat..." point of view. Nada. So when I drove them all to the pickup location and revealed to them what we were about to embark on (via a video I played for them on my laptop while we sat on a bench next to the parking lot), you can only imagine their reactions (hey - if you're going to ever do something like this you may as well as do it up big, right?)!The next couple of hours (getting to watch them inflate the balloon while others from other companies also took off from the same field, assisting with the takeoff, the flight itself, and then assisting with the landing followed by the post-flight festivities and drive back to our pickup/dropoff point) were nothing short of spectacular. The views from aloft were incredible, and with all due respect to those who have flown elsewhere, I don't know if you could pick a more breathtaking place to enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime experience such as this. The Del Mar coastline is spectacular; the multi-million-dollar homes and golf courses, etc., that we flew over were stunning; the view of the Pacific Ocean at sunset from above the clouds is indescribable... I could go on and on but I still would never be able to encapsulate the entire experience into a review, no matter how long I chose to make it (and better for you that I wrap it up).I reserved a private flight rather than a shared one and this is the only way I would do it. I am very much a people-person, and love meeting new people everywhere I go, but for this occasion I did not want to be with anyone other than my family. If I knew how to pilot a balloon I would even have given Denni the day off but seeing as he was pretty essential I let him stay. :-) Just know this - it gets pretty cozy in the basket; there isn't a lot of room for moving around. But contrasted with being with numerous strangers in a larger basket I'd only do it this way, as I say.P.S. By all means take a video camera! I am so glad I did. The video setting on your camera or phone is okay if that is all you have but not nearly as good as a dedicated videocam. So if you don't own one I would reccommend borrowing one or even buying one before your flight - it's totally worth it. Just make sure you have the strap wrapped tightly around your hand/wrist as it gets very hot under the burner and your hands may get very sweaty. My one big concern was that I was going to lose it overboard like a bar of soap.Also - don't wear white (as I discovered) as there is potential for you to have fuel drip on you. I wore a white shirt that was ruined as a result but I count it as a meaningless loss in light of how spectacular this whole experience was.Denni and his ground-crew were really great too. They helped to make this outing a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience (although I'm planning to go again, but don't tell my wife). :-)