Ever since we found out we were coming to Albuquerque, everyone has been telling us “You have to go to the balloon festival.”  Well, the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is finally here.  It started this past Saturday, and like any good tourists we wanted to be there bright and early, and by bright and early I mean before sunrise.  Thankfully since we are already on a crazy night schedule at work, this was not an issue for us.  We hopped in our car at 4:45 am (MST) and headed to Balloon Fiesta Park, which is only a 15 minute drive from here.  Of course, all the townspeople warned us that we needed to get on the road early because traffic would be horrible, well, I am now officially convinced that the New Mexican people have no idea what traffic really is.  Granted, once we got close to the park, we did have to wait in line to get into the parking area, but that is typical for any venue that is hosting a BIG event.  Anywho, back to the topic at hand, we arrived at the park without incident and proceeded to walk around and see the attractions.  Basically, the Balloon Fiesta consists of souvenir shops, food venues and of course hot air balloons.  Upon recommendation from our co-workers, we grabbed ourselves some hot chocolate and a breakfast burrito with green chili, found a little spot on the grass and waited for the main event to begin.  

Before the main event, we enjoyed the Dawn Patrol, it began while it was still dark out and consisted of about a dozen balloonists.  The Dawn Patrol take off while it is still dark outside and don’t land until it is light outside.  Fellow balloonists appreciate the Dawn Patrol because they are able to watch the balloons and get an idea of wind speeds and direction at different altitudes.  After watching the Dawn Patrol, we waited for about an hour for the main event of the morning, MASS ASCENSION. Mass ascension is a launch of all the participating balloons.  During mass ascension, balloons launch in two waves, on the ground there are people known as “zebras” that act as traffic cops to ensure safe ballooning.  All in all it was quite a sight seeing all the different shapes and sizes of the balloons, it wasn’t long until the sky was full of them and you could see them floating for miles.  We must have taken over a hundred pictures, and I was not able to choose which ones I like best, so I must sucker you into watching another one of my slide shows.  ENJOY!!!

 

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