Temecula Balloon

while in Temecula, CA we spent the night at a villa on the property of a really nice winery. Early in the morning I did a three mile photowalk around and around and around the property looking for things to shoot in the morning light. I was about to call it quits because it was darned cold when on the horizon I saw ten hot air balloons launching. Hoping to get a couple of great pics, I hoped they would come my way. I did shoot some shots of them at a long distance and I posted one of them coming out of a cloud last week. But then they turned (or rather the wind did) and all of a sudden I was surrounded by them. This particular balloon driver (is that what you call them???) was a real daredevil. He dropped his ballon into the U-shaped hotel next to our winery and went right up the U and then popped up over the front of th building. A masterful piece of driving that gave me a great perspective to shoot.