As my wife and I were ascending in the Carolina Twist hot air balloon I caught this photo of the mass ascension during the October 2017 Statesville Balloon Festival in North Carolina. The Carolina countryside and evening blue skies backdrop this multitude of floating balloons reaching upward. This was our first hot air balloon experience and we will never forget the majesty and beauty of being hundreds of feet up with only the lighting of the propane to punctuate the silence of free floating.