Temecula Tutors

About Temecula

Temecula, California is a town for its vineyards and wine tasting; if you look up things to do in Temecula you will come across vineyard after vineyard. While interesting, this doesn’t leave much for people who can’t or don’t drink to do after their lessons with their Temecula tutor. Don’t fret, there is something rather unique and interesting you can do, why not try a hat air balloon ride?

Temecula is home to multiple hot air balloon companies that offer balloon tours and rides for the public. Hot air balloons are an interesting way to travel, and even helped pave the way for things like space travel!

The first hot air balloon went into the sky on September, 19th, 1793. While it didn’t carry any human passengers, it contained a sheep, a duck, and a rooster. It managed to stay in the air for 15 minutes before crashing to the ground. This was the beginning of the hot air balloon. This attempt gave the creator, Pilatre de Rozier, the idea to attempt to cross the English Channel. A couple of years later he did attempt it, but with dire consequences. His idea to tie a hydrogen balloon with a hot air balloon proved fatal, with an explosion just 30 minutes after launch.

Crossing the English Channel would be completed by Jean Pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries, who two years prior had managed to launch a balloon from the center of Paris and have it stay afloat for 20 minutes! They successfully crossed the channel, and started the passion of hot air balloons.

Everything stayed relatively quiet in the hot air balloon world for over 100 years, when in 1932, Auguste Piccard manned a hot air balloon launch that reached the stratosphere, over 50,000 feet high! This set a new record, and was the beginning of quite a competition. In 1935 a hot air balloon made it over 70,000 feet into the air, about 13.7 miles up! This proved that man could survive at these altitudes in pressurized chambers, and paved the way for space travel. That record was beaten yet again in 1960 by Captain Joe Kittinger, who manned a balloon 102,000 feet up, and not only set the record for altitude but also for skydiving, leaping from his balloon and breaking the sound barrier with his own body!

Today, hot air balloons have evolved, and are available for the public to enjoy safely. This could be a fun activity to do after your next lesson with your Temecula tutor, unless of course you’re afraid of heights!