Curves Balloon Gives Ballwinite Birds-Eye View

Georgine Ustruck of Ballwin paid a surprise aerial visit to Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School in Ladue early Friday.

Along with Cathy Baumann of Fenton, Ustruck is a customer of Curves, which awarded the two women a free balloon ride Friday morning from Forest Park. race is scheduled this weekend with the popular 'Balloon Glow' this evening.

Pilot Ron Frusher, manager of balloon operations for Curves International had scheduled a 5 a.m. launch from Forest Park as a practice run, with a planned landing somewhere on the campus of Washington University.

Prevailing winds took the hot air balloon straight west over Clayton to Ladue. The ride turned out to be more than 40 minutes in duration.

An MICDS field hockey gym class greeted the unexpected guests and all kind of cameras came out for some shots.

"We had a great flight. It was fun and I got to take lots of pictures," said Ustruck. The surprise landing came at 8:20 a.m.

Tim White, MICDS' director of security was on the welcoming team. "It's not everyday you get a hot air balloon landing on your campus," he said with a grin. "But everything went smoothly and we welcomed them," said White.

Within minutes, the 11 member chase crew had packed up the balloon and were ready to return to Forest Park.

The balloon is named the 'Spirit of Curves.' The crew and guests had plenty of spirit upon their unexpected landing on the MICDS campus.