Hot air balloons are pretty and everything.

But not when they emergency land in your backyard.

That’s what happened on the South Side of Binghamton yesterday according to a buddy of mine who was on hand to take photos of the whole incident.  Here’s what he had to say:

We were out on the back porch to watch a big balloon hovering in the sky a few blocks away.  As we watched it, it descended while moving west along the roadway. As it continued, it seemed to be getting too close to the trees and power lines.  We decided to follow it.  As it descended, it clipped a few tree branches and seemed to almost land on the house on the corner.

It continued on a few blocks and finally landed safely in someone’s back yard.  It was quite a site, a large rainbow balloon sitting behind a large house – almost like it was their private ride.  I wonder how they’ll get it back out of their yard.  One of the balloon riders said they had started the trip about 30-40 minutes earlier and had hit a completely dead patch, with no wind. They were going nowhere and needed to land.  They decided to put it down wherever they could.