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Today is Sam's 50th birthday. And even though it's a weekday, I was able to book a flight on a hot air balloon to celebrate the day. While Sam would probably rather be skydiving (something he did before we married), he agreed to forgo that high testosterone activity until all our children were adults, so as to reduce the chances of leaving me a widowed mother of young children after the bounce. This seemed a reasonable alternative with less risk.

It's easy to find a balloon company in Park City, but given the fact that it's over an hour drive, we really wanted to find someone local. While googling for companies, I found one that sounded good, but they are contracted with a bank to provide their signature balloon and so are not generally available to hire. I found another company located in Provo, but clicking the link that showed up in the search results sent me to the Utah County Republican Party web site. Not exactly what I was going for.

Finally, I gave up on new tech and turned to the telephone. What Google messed up on, was really a great little hot air balloon company that doesn't have a web site at all. Lucky Star Hot Air Balloons, a family enterprise headed up by Doug Cannon, was our choice for the birthday ride.

We arrived at Fox Field just before 6:30 am, helped set up the balloon, and then took off. We had a glorious time floating about for about an hour (although we only purchased two half-hour tickets), and took a clean landing in a vacant lot. We helped fold up the balloon and hopped in the chase van for the ride back to our car. Then we were given the ceremonial Irish blessing and champagne-ish (we don't drink, so sparkling juice sufficed) toast given to first-time hot air balloon riders.

We had an amazing morning, met a wonderful family, and had a very memorable time. The entire event cost $190 and was worth every penny. Thanks to the Cannons. We highly recommend Lucky Star Hot Air Balloons.

Alison Moore Smith is a 61-year-old entrepreneur who graduated from BYU in 1987. She has been (very happily) married to Samuel M. Smith for 40 years. They are parents of six incredible children and grandparents to two astounding grandsons. She is the author of The 7 Success Habits of Homeschoolers.