Blizzard 2016

If you live on the east coast you probably still have piles of snow laying around from winter storm jonas this past weekend. In Lancaster, PA this storm ranked as the second largest snow accumulation according to the Millersville University Weather Information Center. Almost 27″ of white fluffy stuff blanketed the county in a winter wonderland, closing schools for days and causing 100s of accidents on the cold icy roads.

One place that didn’t need the roads cleared was the air, about a mile up, and surprisingly that’s where I ended up. I was on Facebook a few days before the storm hit and saw a post from Visit Lancaster PA announcing an chance to fly with the US Hot Air Balloon Team the day after the storm. Conditions didn’t allow us to fly that day, but a rain date (or is it snow date?!) for the following morning played out with perfect flight conditions. The team took about ten local photographers up in three separate balloons. We met at the Smoketown airport and enjoyed a beautiful sunrise as the balloons were being set up.

Once the balloons were filled and ready to go we loaded up and went wherever the wind took us. Since we split up between the balloons it gave each group of photographers a different perspective of the experience. We landed in a nearby quiet neighborhood, another in a Target parking lot, and the last one made it all the way to the Choo Choo Barn in Strasburg. It was really neat to see the flight through everyone’s photos. Honestly, it was a challenge to pick the best shots from the morning, but really c’mon that is a problem that I am completely fine with! I shared a couple of my favorite images from the day across social media and shortly after Lancaster Newspaper contacted me about posting my photo to their Facebook Page. Here is their post:

All in all it was an experience that I will never forget. I highly recommend liking both Visit Lancaster PA and the US Hot Air Balloon Team on Facebook – they put together some great events!