I have met so many wonderful people on my journey through life and been fortunate to visit much of the USA and four foreign countries. I’ve selected two very memorable moments in my life.
First involves the four years we lived in New Mexico. Albuquerque is host to the ABQ International Balloon Fiesta and features two weekends of the mass ascension of 600-700 balloons. We went every year and the sight of that many balloon taking off at once was breathtaking.
We even got to step inside one balloon as it was being inflated.
My other moment is our trip to Inverness in Scotland. We took a tour around Loch Ness, truly a magical place, and stood at the spot most featured in Loch Ness Monster specials. It was the highlight of the trip and a dream come true!
(Yes, Spunky used to be a blonde. And it was freezing that day.)
Supportive Blogger Extraordinaire Contest!
And the winner is…
And his nominator…
DL Hammons of Cruising Altitude!
Both men receive a $25 Amazon gift card and his choice of free ebooks of all my titles OR two print copies.
Thank you to all who voted, nominated, and to the other two final round nominees, Roland Yeomans at Writing in the Crosshairs and Misha Gericke at My First Book.
38 comments:
Thanks for sharing your story! What a incredible site that must have been! I love air balloons and always wanted to go up in one. Congrats to the Supportive Blogger Extraordinaire, not surprised because this man has some kind of magic in his veins :)
Congrats to Alex! He's such a great guy. :)
Love hearing about your special experiences!
Good for Alex! The Santa Claus of the blogosphere deserves presents, too.
And the balloons were beautiful. That had to be awesome in real life.
Siv, I've been in one tethered, but never went into the air.
Shelly, it was amazing. I really miss the Balloon Fiesta.
Congrats to the winners. You've visited a lot of neat places. I hope to visit Loch Ness someday.
Awesome experiences! I loved the pictures of the balloon fiesta, and Loch Ness is extremely cool!
Congratulations to Alex! (and to DL, too)
Great photos!
Thanks to everyone who voted - I'm so humbled. And thank you for hosting this contest.
Congratulations, DL - you rock!
Thanks for sharing the photos and story. That pic of all the balloons is wonderful.
Congrats to Alex and DL! Have a great week!
Alex and DL deserve the wins. Congratulations!
I'd LOVE to go see the balloons take off, ride in one too. And Scotland is the one place I really, really, really, want to go visit.
Congrats to Alex and Don!
Diane, I lived for many years in the Sonoma Wine Country. Balloons were big out there too and they ARE awesome up close. Amazing and beautiful.
Sia McKye's Thoughts...OVER COFFEE
Those are spectacular photos!! What totally cool places! And I just knew Alex would win. Everyone loves him!
Wow! A blonde Spunky. This was worth stopping by today.
That would be quite the sight all those balloons.
congrats Alex!
Congrats to Alex! And those do look like extraordinary moments to me.
The big kid in me loved the Teddy Bear hot air balloon! I envy you going to those ballon fiestas! And going to Scotland. You look quite different as a blonde!
Alex was the only true choice. I'm very happy he won. He was quite gracious to nominate me. Hats off to all of us bloggers who try to make the cyberverse friendlier, especially you, Diane.
Susan, it's brimming with magic.
Bish, you need to go.
Sia, they are just unbelievable up close.
Stephen, I bleached my red hair for 17 years.
Thank you, Roland. You were deserving of the nomination. That teddy bear balloon photo is one my husband's favorites and we have a 16x20 of it in our living room.
Congrats to Alex & DL :)
What great experiences - those balloons are magical!
It's always cold in Scotland ... and wet! Part of the charm.
Congratulations the winners! That's great.
Thanks for stopping in at Bish's blog to leave a comment during my visit there. Appreciated it.
Always loved hot-air balloons, but never went up in one.
Congrats to Alex, our true Supportive Blogger Extraordinaire! :-)
Congrats to Alex!!!
Great for Alex and DL.
My niece once wanted to go to Scotland to hunt for Nessie. Looks like a magical place. Neat to stand inside a balloon.
Congratulations to Alex and DL.
Those are two great memories. I guess I could have done that blogfest on my memoir blog, but I missed it. So many events happening that it's difficult to keep up with them.
Lee
Wrote By Rote
Those are wonderful moments. Fantastic; I would have loved to be there to see the balloons.
Congrats to the supportive winners :)
........dhole
Wonderful job Alex and DL! Two of my favorites!
HMG
Congrats ALEX and DL!!!
Beautiful pics L. Diane. I can certainly see why these moments are so special to you.
Congrats ALEX and DL!!!
Beautiful pics L. Diane. I can certainly see why these moments are so special to you.
Wow- truly beautiful. Thank you for sharing.
Wow, I love that balloon ascension that is amazing. And that picture of blonde you by Loch Ness is awesome. :)
Congrat to Alex and D. L. Both are pillars of the community as are Roland and Misha. We are the better for them being here. And thank you for doing this wonderful award. You do a ton to support the rest of us as well.
Congratulations to Alex!!
CONGRATS to Alex!
Cool balloon pictures.
Alex rocks! I'm not surprised with this one at all. :)
I'd love to go up in a hot-air balloon. My brother did once but fell out of it (when it was landing!!). Loch Ness is really a special spot. Thanks for sharing!
Congratulations to Alex and DL. Well deserved.
Funny thing - riding in a hot air balloon and visting Loch Ness are both on my "someday" list. Thanks for reminding me.
what a great blogfest! I love the pictures you have here. I'm half expecting to see the lochness monster poking her head out on the lake behind you :)
Nutschell
www.thewritingnut.com
Awesome experiences! Scotland is very high up on my gotta visit places.
And CONGRATS Alex! So VERY much deserved! :)
Oooo... I can imagine those balloons all rising into the atmosphere... must've been something else...
Congrats to the Ninja Captain. He is SO deserving of the award!
Big congrats to Alex & DL, they are both great people!
That balloon festival looks amazing.
I've been to Loch Ness too! It's truly unforgettable.
And you look great as a blonde and as a red head!
Jai
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