Balloons At The Gate

I was out chasing balloons this morning. "What else would you be doing, George?" you ask. Well, when I looked out my window this morning I saw a beautiful full moon sitting right over the Champions Gate Golf Club. I knew I couldn't be fast enough to get any shots of it though, and once again I had left my camera in my truck, so I couldn't shoot it through my window either. A few minutes later, I looked out and saw fog rising from the tree tops as a balloon floated above them. I had to run out for that, of course. I got a bunch of shots at the golf course, at the Clock Tower, and at the Gate. There are two balloons in this photo, along with the 7-11 parking area (lower right), Regions Bank, Watson Realty, and Walgreens.

Random 12/27/08 Shots

Some of the shots I got early Sunday morning. To answer Clueless In Boston's question about why there are so many balloons here: this is the tourist capital of the world - more people visit Orlando than any other tourist destination - and ballooning is a very popular activity. Champions Gate is only a few miles south of Disney World, where the majority of the tourists are, and there is a lot of wide open space around here, plenty of spots for the balloons to land easily, and the sights are special.

It seems there are a number of balloon companies that work, or fly, with one another. The largest balloons can carry as many as twenty people in their baskets, and the smaller ones just three or four comfortably.

Through The Gate

If you look closely, or enlarge the photo, you can see a hot air balloon just above the red light on the right. "There they are!" I said to myself (I always talk to myself). I think there must have been a dozen balloons, but I could only catch about four at one time. I'll be posting more these shots in the next few days.

The Back Of The Gate

Space Shuttle Launch on a Rainy Night

Date:Nov. 14
Mission: STS-126
Launch Vehicle: Space Shuttle Endeavour
Launch Site: Kennedy Space Center - Launch Pad 39A
Launch Time: 7:55 p.m. EST
Landing Date: Nov. 29
Landing Site: Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility
Description: Space Shuttle Endeavour launching on assembly flight ULF2, will deliver a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module to the International Space Station.

Image above: STS-126 Commander Chris Ferguson waves to his family before he climbs inside Endeavour. Photo credit: NASA/KSC



When I heard the Space Shuttle was launching Saturday night I knew I had to go to the parking lot of the Regions Bank and get a few shots. Of course, I wasn't planning on the rain, lol. While I was waiting under the drive-through, I shot a couple of photos of the 7-11 and the Gate. Then, at 7:55 I looked to the sky and saw a flicker of light. I shot four photos, the last two had barely anything on them. The results, though, were not bad considering I was seventy miles from the launch site and it was raining like hell, lol.

The last two photos were downloaded from the NASA site.

The Gate

Actually, half of the gate, the 'exit' side.