Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta
My mom visited us in Santa Fe this past weekend and we checked off a few items on her bucket list! We hiked at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, the home of Georgia O'Keeffe and the setting of many of her famous paintings. We picked out Ady's Halloween pumpkin. And the highlight of the weekend was the Balloon Fiesta, the largest international hot air balloon festival, featuring over 550 balloons from all over the world.
The Balloon Fiesta is one of Albuquerque's most popular events of the year. It's definitely something worth getting up early to see, and it's hard to describe the beauty and excitement of the event to people who haven't seen it in person. The weather this time of year can be hot, windy, cold, or snowy, and the conditions can change drastically from one day to the next, so there's never a guarantee that the balloons will inflate or lift off. We we so lucky to attend the fiesta on a day with perfect weather conditions and minimal wind.
We set our alarms and left Santa Fe at 4:00 a.m. on Saturday morning to allow plenty of time to drive to Albuquerque, find a parking spot, and walk over a mile to the large field where the balloons are set up. We had time for some Pinon coffee and breakfast before staking out a good spot on the field to watch the Mass Ascension, the morning event when all the balloons take off. The first balloons started inflating and illuminating before the sun had risen over the Sandia mountains.
What I love most about Balloon Fiesta is being right on the field next to the balloons and watching the entire process -- from unraveling the balloon from its case, spreading it out along the tarp, slowly inflating it, watching it rise from lying on the grass to standing upright, and seeing it lift off the ground with the riders in the basket. The balloons are so close together that many of them are touching by the time they inflate. And there are so many balloons inflating simultaneously at different areas of the field that it's impossible to see them all! One by one the balloons take off into the air. Since there was hardly any wind on Saturday morning, the balloons just floated peacefully over the valley, appearing smaller as they drifted farther away, until they eventually landed.
Ady is learning all her animal noises lately, and she loved seeing the animal-shaped balloons! We saw Buster the Bulldog, Tall Steve the Penquin, Mr. Fish, Pigasus, Kermie, El Fonz the Elephant, Little Dog, Arabelle the Cow, Wes the Wolf, and Mr. Z the Zebra (just to name a few). My favorite balloon is always the Wells Fargo stage coach, and I also loved the Wicked balloon this year ("Defying Gravity").
I'm so glad we had good weather on Saturday to see all the balloons, because Sunday was cold and rainy and it snowed on Monday! I guess winter is coming early this year.
We're getting ready to head to the Pacific Northwest at the end of the week to visit family and friends! I love that part of the county and I'm looking forward to seeing Seattle and Coeur d'Alene in the fall. This will be Ady's last flight as a "lap infant," and she will have visited 14 states before her second birthday!
Stay warm out there!
The Balloon Fiesta is one of Albuquerque's most popular events of the year. It's definitely something worth getting up early to see, and it's hard to describe the beauty and excitement of the event to people who haven't seen it in person. The weather this time of year can be hot, windy, cold, or snowy, and the conditions can change drastically from one day to the next, so there's never a guarantee that the balloons will inflate or lift off. We we so lucky to attend the fiesta on a day with perfect weather conditions and minimal wind.
We set our alarms and left Santa Fe at 4:00 a.m. on Saturday morning to allow plenty of time to drive to Albuquerque, find a parking spot, and walk over a mile to the large field where the balloons are set up. We had time for some Pinon coffee and breakfast before staking out a good spot on the field to watch the Mass Ascension, the morning event when all the balloons take off. The first balloons started inflating and illuminating before the sun had risen over the Sandia mountains.
What I love most about Balloon Fiesta is being right on the field next to the balloons and watching the entire process -- from unraveling the balloon from its case, spreading it out along the tarp, slowly inflating it, watching it rise from lying on the grass to standing upright, and seeing it lift off the ground with the riders in the basket. The balloons are so close together that many of them are touching by the time they inflate. And there are so many balloons inflating simultaneously at different areas of the field that it's impossible to see them all! One by one the balloons take off into the air. Since there was hardly any wind on Saturday morning, the balloons just floated peacefully over the valley, appearing smaller as they drifted farther away, until they eventually landed.
Ady is learning all her animal noises lately, and she loved seeing the animal-shaped balloons! We saw Buster the Bulldog, Tall Steve the Penquin, Mr. Fish, Pigasus, Kermie, El Fonz the Elephant, Little Dog, Arabelle the Cow, Wes the Wolf, and Mr. Z the Zebra (just to name a few). My favorite balloon is always the Wells Fargo stage coach, and I also loved the Wicked balloon this year ("Defying Gravity").
I'm so glad we had good weather on Saturday to see all the balloons, because Sunday was cold and rainy and it snowed on Monday! I guess winter is coming early this year.
We're getting ready to head to the Pacific Northwest at the end of the week to visit family and friends! I love that part of the county and I'm looking forward to seeing Seattle and Coeur d'Alene in the fall. This will be Ady's last flight as a "lap infant," and she will have visited 14 states before her second birthday!
Stay warm out there!
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