Just a bunch of hot air

The Hot Air Balloon Festival... Sounds pretty cool, no? I thought so. And I thought that the location—Coshocton, Ohio—was an excellent place to meet up with friends. My long-time pals Sasha & Justin live a hop, skip and a jump away from there, and my best pal Deanna and her fam live a respectable drive from there as well. Plus, pictures like this promoting the festival elicited an inward, "Ooo" from me.

So, with images of bright, beautiful balloons floating in my mind, I convinced David that we should make a day out of it. Sasha & Justin we able to meet us as well (but no Deanna & crew).

The thing about hot air balloons is that they require ridiculously good weather conditions for flight. And Mother Nature, as usual, had other plans for that particular weekend in June. She was in the mood to storm—ceaselessly, relentless, violently—and when she'd had enough of that, she simply drizzled rain.

Hoping for one of those "blow over" summer storm days, we hopped over to Coshocton anyway. When we arrived at the festival, it was raining—a tolerable drizzle, but raining—and we muddled through a few fair rides to keep Noah's "Can I? Can I? Can I?" requests at bay.



But the festival itself—sans balloons—was just a bunch of hot, humid air. A smattering of food vendors and a sad row of soggy craft booths were sandwiched between some well loved fair rides. (One proud ride operator announced that the circling "piggies" had been around since the 40s, and indeed, it showed. Noah, of course, didn't care one bit.)

I suspect the Hot Air Balloon Festival is nifty when the weather cooperates and the balloons sail overhead, but without the main attraction it elicited a "huh" rating from us—we self-proclaimed lovers of all fairs and festivals.

Intervention struck, and we abandoned ship for Roscoe Village to meet our pals. Good plan—the weather cleared, shopping ensued, followed by a grown-up type dinner in the basement of a family-style pub. Day saved!

We even managed to work in a little history lesson, like this working water wheel & pump. Noah liked making the water come out, but he needed a little extra muscle to get it going.

This is an old river boat that used to travel up and down the canals. You could walk on it and listen to a (long!) recording of each main space in the boat.