Balloon ride in Lithuania: Looking into the flame

Near Alytus, Lithuania, July 14th, 2009. Jen and I woke up early and headed out with my mom's cousin Gintaras and a couple of other helpers for a balloon ride over the Lithuanian countryside. We were busy helping launch the balloon (it's quite labour-intensive!) but of course we managed to snap some photos whenever possible.

I took this photo shortly before takeoff. You can tell we're still on the ground because of the silhouetted trees on the sides of the balloon (we launched from a clearing in a forest).