FOLEY, Ala. - Writing a personal bucket list can be a challenge. Completing one of the tasks can be even more of a challenge.

Friday morning, thanks to the Gulf Coast Hot Air Balloon Festival and the crew of "Let's Get High," I completed one of the items left on my bucket list.

At 5:30 a.m. Saturday, I parked my car at the Foley Sportsplex — where the festival was located — in hopes the wind and weather would be kind enough to allow balloons to hit the air. An hour later, myself and the "Let's Get High" crew headed out in hopes of mother nature being kind.

I interviewed Orange Beach resident Ellis Calvert, one of the pilots at the balloon festival, last week. He has participated in the festival in Foley each year and has been a pilot for 20 years. When I told him I had never flown before, he told me I had to do it. He said it was a "bucket list-type thing;" and he gave me some great insight into the procedure for getting the balloon off the ground, why he likes flying and how great the experience is.

When he offered to let me fly in his balloon — because the media flight scheduled for Friday morning had been canceled due to weather — I jumped at the chance even though I am horribly terrified of heights. Thanks to Ellis and his crew, I survived and am glad I put aside my fears and engaged the experience head on.

The goal is to fly directly over the festival grounds, so the direction the wind will take the balloon must be estimated with a pilot information balloon, which is a small helium balloon pilots send into the air before taking off. Once the crew figured out where to set up, the balloon was setup.

Ellis described being in a hot air balloon as a "whole different world." He is exactly right. There is no better way to describe the feeling as the balloon flew through the air and I looked out of the basket and into the scenery that was afar and below.

Once the balloon left the ground and as it was going straight into the air, fear crept in. I kept looking down, and as the balloon got higher and higher the fear began to grow. Like I said, I have a fear of heights. But once the wind took us and we began moving in the direction of the festival grounds, which we missed to the left, the scared sensation left my body and the "oh my God, this is amazing" feeling entered.

Dogs barked as the propane — which makes the balloon rise — was fired. Other balloons from the festival were flying to the east and south of us, and looking out and seeing the colorful methods of air transportation with the beach condominiums in the background was a visual I will never forget. From passing the trees and fields below to looking at cars as we passed over a road, it was all incredible. We even struck up a conversation with a man as we flew around 200-300 feet above his property. He told us he "just got off work."

When we found a field to land in, Ellis told me to grab hold of the handles, bend my knees and face the direction we are headed. I had my company's camera around my neck, so the fear of something happening to it began to build. Fortunately, we landed with a few bounces and a nice man came to help slow us down. Then, the wind pushed the basket over and I fell out. Thankfully, the camera survived.

"That wasn't even a rough landing," Tim Calvert, Ellis' brother and another passenger on the flight, said. Tim had me laughing the entire flight, taking my mind off the fact that the chances of my sudden death were greater than usual; but if that wasn't a rough landing, I am positive my camera (and Gulf Coast Newspapers) would not like to find out what is.

Once the balloon was packed up into the trailer, the crew headed back to the festival to "celebrate" my first flight. A ceremony was performed, but the details will not be told in this story. If you want to experience the rite of passage, call 251-752-2248 and schedule a flight with Ellis. I guarantee you will not be disappointed.

Have I mentioned how awesome the crew was? Ellis, Tim, Lorraine McLaughlin, Andy McLaughlin, Celina Calvert, Scottie Arnould, Randy Johnson, Jee Barnett, Chad Lipscomb and Jacob Arnould, a 10-year-old from Michigan, all helped make the experience the best it could be.

"We love having new people," Celina said after the flight. "That's awesome. We love making people's worlds."

There are certain memories you think you will remember forever but don't, and then there are the few memories you will remember forever. This is an experience I will remember forever. No doubt about it.

Scratch one off the bucket list. Now it is onto skydiving.