FOLEY — With the click of a computer mouse, Lisa Kirkland of Robertsdale checked one item off her bucket list.

Kirkland won a free hot-air balloon ride during this weekend’s ninth annual Gulf Coast Hot Air Balloon Festival. She was selected from among those entered in GCN’s FaceBook contest.

“I always wanted to do it,” the single mother of three said, explaining that this was her first time in a balloon. “I’ve been in a helicopter.”

Kirkland said this experience was a welcome treat, as she has spent the last year recovering from a broken ankle.

“I’m excited for her,” said son Leroy, who helped the crew prepare the balloon.

Following a pilots’ meeting at Foley Elementary School Friday, Tupelo, Miss., American Ballon Pilot Frank Anger walked Kirkland and his crew through what to expect. Then they set off for an ideal launching site.

Anger led a motorcade along County Road 24, stopping at several spots to test the wind. Finally, he made one final stop, and the group went to work readying to fly.

But flying Friday afternoon wasn’t meant to be, as Anger wasn’t comfortable with the wind conditions. Instead, Kirkland took her inaugural flight Saturday morning, joined by GCN Senior Editor William Moore.

“It went well,” Anger said Saturday evening.