As the moon grows faint in the morning light, giant silky balloons of vibrant red, blue, yellow, white and purple billow to life in a foggy green field near Orlando. Our red and white hot air balloon lifts from the ground and my husband James grips my hand. "This is going to be so much fun," he says with a huge smile.

I know I have made the right choice.

He had rejected my idea for a romantic spa retreat, saying he was too busy with work. But when I mentioned a hot air balloon ride over Central Florida's Polk County, suddenly his project could wait. To complete our romantic getaway, I planned a visit to our favorite Florida park and a gourmet dinner and stay at a quaint bed and breakfast.


Romance Made in Heaven

We climb into the leather-bottomed basket, which our pilot Bill from Fantasy of Flight (which has an impressive vintage aircraft museum as well) says is big enough for four but is cozy with two.
Interstate 4, shopping malls and new subdivisions give way to thickets of towering pines and old oaks, sparkling lakes and an occasional corral of horses and farm houses.

Before we realize it, we're floating 30 feet in the air and the ground is growing farther away by the second. I feel like Mary Poppins, as if I can walk on air. For a moment, I think that skydiving, which is also available in Polk County, wouldn't be so scary. But with ballooning, there's a quiet stillness only occasionally interrupted by a phishhh of fiery propulsion. Much more my speed.

From above, Florida is a new frontier. Interstate 4, shopping malls and new subdivisions give way to thickets of towering pines and old oaks, sparkling lakes and an occasional corral of horses and farm houses. We skim over tree tops and sight a large doe leaping through the underbrush. Cattle stream across a wide green pasture.

We land as gracefully as we had lifted off. After packing up, we join other balloonists for a breakfast of fresh fruit and champagne mimosas. It is a balloonist tradition, we learn, but to us it's also a celebration of a lovely day promising more romance as it progresses.


Garden of Eden

We drive less than an hour south through fields of orange groves loaded with fruit on our way to Bok Tower Gardens in Lake Wales. We had visited the serene hideaway when we were dating, and as we approach our fifth anniversary, the visit rekindles the giddiness of newfound love.

The gardens are filled with massive blooming azaleas, orchids and other blooming plants as well as water lily pad-topped pools teaming with Koi fish and graceful swans. However, its most unique feature is its marble carillon tower – carved with images of Adam and Eve and wild animals – that sits on the peak of the hilltop (the highest point in peninsular Florida).

We sit in Adirondack chairs underneath a gazebo, listen to the carillon bells play Mozart and watch as a bride and groom in a neighboring meadow vow to spend their lives together. We make plans to return for one of the moonlight carillon recitals as we stroll hand-in-hand and make our way to our next "honeymoon" stop.


Through the Looking Glass

I had narrowed our bed and breakfast choices down to three – The Stanford Inn in Bartow, Town Manor on the Lake in Auburndale and Chalet Suzanne in Lake Wales – but ultimately gravitated to the whimsical chalet. Part Swiss, part Old World and part Alice in Wonderland, it is an eclectic inn with a gourmet restaurant and history as interesting as its unique architecture. Each of its 27 guest rooms are different. Ours is large with Victorian furniture and an oversized Jacuzzi tub.

We explore the inn's winding brick pathways and study the centuries-old hand-painted tiles, which Chalet Suzanne's founder collected from demolished buildings across Europe. We find a wall of new tiles, created by visiting lovebirds, along a garden wall.

After an aperitif of Sherry in our room, we head to the intimate dining room decorated with a hodge-podge of antiques and hanging lamps. As the sun sets over Lake Suzanne, we dine on gourmet recipes – including its famous soups also canned on site – that have placed the restaurant in Florida Trend's Golden Spoon Hall of Fame and impressed celebrities from Esther Williams to Johnny Carson.

We toast to togetherness, although James plans to spend the morning in bed while I get a pedicure at the inn's spa. You see, in Central Florida, you can have a balloon ride and a professional foot massage, too.

For more information on planning a romantic Central Florida getaway, call 800-828-7655 or go to www.visitcentralflorida.org.