Word: ballooning
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...vertigo at heights and suffer from motion sickness in cars, planes and boats. And I'm not the most adventurous person in general. So what in the world was I doing in a hot-air balloon thousands of feet over Albuquerque, N.M.? Simple: having the time of my life...
...during the annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, the world's largest event of its kind. As soon as we took off in the cool dawn air, any trepidation I had instantly dissipated. My frazzled New York City nerves melted. I felt as if I were floating on water--completely quiet, calm and still--as the pilot, two other passengers and I let the breeze carry us about seven miles from our launch site. Although we were moving, it seemed as though we were standing still and the world around us were changing vistas...
After my 45-min. flight, I served as part of an eight-person crew that helped the next passengers get aboard, then followed along in a truck to assist them once the balloon landed. When I was finished riding and crewing, all I wanted to do was go right back up for another ride. I was like a 3-year-old who had just got off the slide for the first time and was tugging on her mom's dress to let her try it again and again...
Many others will experience the same exhilaration this year at the 30th Albuquerque bash, to be held Oct. 5-13 in Balloon Fiesta Park. About a million people are expected to attend, says fiesta director Pat Brake, with a showing of some 750 corporate, private and balloon-company vessels from 30 countries. As many as 60% of these balloon enthusiasts--spectators, passengers and pilots--are 50 or over, says Scott Appelman, president of Rainbow Ryders Inc., a full-service balloon company that is the official ride operator for the fiesta...
...Plenty, according to the FDA hearings: more than 40% of women with saline implants return to the operating room because of pain, misshapen breasts or other complications. If the implants are removed, the skin may never be the same. Should a saline implant rupture, it deflates like a popped balloon, leaving a woman asymmetrical. Finally, all implants make mammograms more difficult to read...