My Birthday Surprise

My birthday was without a doubt an unforgettable day. The day started by Joel cooking french toast and bacon for me for breakfast. As soon as we finished eating, Joel told me that I had to be completely ready to leave by 2:00. I asked if I needed to wear anything special which was a big mistake. He told me I needed to wear blue jeans and closed toed shoes because we may get dirty. At this point a million different things are running through my head and this "surprise" is not sounding like something I would want to do. After a little negotiating, I talked him into letting me wear capri pants since it has been extremely hot. It is finally time to leave and Joel informs me that I have to wear a blindfold until we get to where we are going. He puts the blindfold on me after we have gotten gas and proceeded to drive in circles to confuse me so I have no clue which direction we are going. After riding blindfolded for a little over a hour and a half, we finally get to where we were going which ended up being a hotel parking lot. I still have absolutely no clue what is going on, but we have to wait here for someone to come get us. My surprise finally comes and I found out that I am going on a hot air balloon ride and I was completely speechless, but so excited. We were able to watch the crew put the balloon together, inflate the balloon, and blow cold air as well as hot air into the balloon to make it rise. Joel and I get into the balloon with our guide Tom and float over the city of Burlington, NC. We were able to float a mile high in the sky and where eye level with clouds and actually went through a few clouds. The best part of the ride was floating level with the trees where we saw two deer and were able to see everything a lot better. We were able to ride for almost a hour and ended up landing in someone's backyard. Joel and I help disassemble the balloon and at the end had a small ceremony where we both received certificates for going on a hot air balloon ride.