Los Angeles herald., 1910-08-14
SEES WONDROUS VIEW
FROM CAPTIVE BALLOON

Dear Aunt Laurie:
1 thought the juniors might be in
terested in my first balloon trip.
[ had always wanted to go up in a
balloon but never had the opportunity
Until the other day When riding on
my wheel down town | noticed large
captive balloon soaring in the clouds.
There was my opportunity.
= h,sitated little When [ started to
buy my ticket, whether to leave this
good old earth and trust my life to
large balloon and small wicker
basket or not go at all. But the man
said it was a chance of a lifetime, so
1 took the chance.
The little courage 1 had left me when
: n a jerk we were off on our trip to
the clouds. If 1 could have backed out
I an l surely would have done so.
[ took the courage to glance over the
side. 1t did not look like we were
going up, but it seemed as if we were
standing still and the ground were
falling rapidly bene til us.
On, on, up we went, over the house,
tops. and then 1.-The view!' Well, it
was grand!
Suddenly thought came into my
head. What was there to bring US
back safely to old mother earth again?
Why, nothing but thin little cable,
and it surely seemed thin to me. But
the magnificent view soon made me
forget everything else.
Before we came to the end of our
cable we v 1T through a wind current
which rolled us pretty badly. but we
soon got through it, and at 2,200 feet
it W quite still; by the way this
balloon goes higher than any other
captive balloon in the world, reaching
a height of 2200 feet"
I took a good look around. First l
looked dow Were those little specks
persons? And those chicken coops the
tall skyscrapers; and that ant moving
slowly underneath, was that street
car?
I then looked around at the foothills,
tha ocean, the small suburban towns.
But, most of all, our city-Los An
geles.
You cannot realize the size of Los
Angeles or the extent OFF its car sys-
tenn until you have seen it from bal
loon.
Stretching out beneath you beau
tiful panorama. There in that grove
of trees, looking like fairy lake, is
West'ake park, and on the other side
is Eastlake park, and with all the
beautiful homes and gardens-ah, it
surely is an enchanted city!
But mJ words give out. | cannot
express myself, it is so beautiful. Los
Angeles, lfle CITY DI Tie dHS6lS, lhS
city beautiful. 1t surely seems so from
a balloon.
1 could hardly believe I was awake,
It seemed so much llge a beautiful
dream that 1 pinched myself to see
if l really was awake.
was contented 1 could stay there
forever. 1t seemed like look into the
promised land.
1 was brought back to the common
place again by a jerk, and we started
on our downward trip. We would soon
be back to the busy city, with all its
noises, cares and worries, while up
here was all peace and tranquility.
took one last look. There was Hol-
lywood, and over to the east Pasa-
dena, while on the other side was San
Pedro, Long Beach, Redondo, Venice
and Ocean Park, all by the blue,
sparkling ocean, and beneath us Los
Angeles.
Well, ten more minutes of down.
ward travel and we were back on solid
earth once more, with a pleasant men,
ory of our first balloon ride.
If any one wants to feel all the
thrills from fear to ecstasy, I recon-
mend a balloon ride via the captive
balloon. CARLTON HENLEY.
40, manual arts, high school.