Getting Started with the Balloons
So, I decided to try launching some balloons the other day. Not for anything big, just felt like doing it. First thing, had to get the stuff together.
- Went down to the party store.
- Grabbed a bag of colorful balloons, the regular latex kind.
- Needed helium, so rented one of those small tanks. Bit heavier than I thought.
- Got some basic string too, nothing fancy.
Got back home and spread everything out on the floor. Looked simple enough, right?
Filling Them Up – The Tricky Part
Okay, hooking up that helium tank nozzle wasn’t super obvious. Had to fiddle with it a bit. Then came the actual filling. Man, that was a learning curve.
First balloon? Poof! Filled it way too fast and it popped. Made me jump. Second one, went slower. Got it to a good size. Tying the knot though, that’s rough on the fingers after a few. My thumbs were definitely feeling it.
I decided to fill maybe ten or twelve. Didn’t want to use the whole tank. Lined them all up, bouncing against the ceiling. Looked pretty cool, actually. The colors were bright.
The Actual Launch
Took the bunch outside. It was a nice day, a little bit of a breeze. Holding onto all those strings was awkward. They were pulling, wanting to go.
Then, I just started letting them go. One by one. Opened my hand and whoosh, up they shot. It was surprisingly fast how quickly they got small.
Watched them drift higher and higher. They caught the wind and started moving sideways pretty quick. Tiny little dots against the blue sky. Wondered for a second where they’d end up. Probably just deflate and come down somewhere random, I guess.
And that was it, really. Cleaned up the tank, put the leftover string away. Simple thing, but kind of satisfying watching them float away like that. Took maybe an hour start to finish. Not a bad way to spend a bit of time.