8-ALBUQUERQUE BALLOON FIESTA

First let me introduce you to Jim and Sonja Phillips, good friends of ours who met us here in Albuquerque.

 We met Jim and Sonja on our last trip to Alaska. They live in Maui, Hawaii, have a son who lives in Bend, Oregon where they keep their RV, and come to the mainland periodically to RV.  

Sonja had knee surgery in Oahu about five or six weeks ago, and I will be having knee surgery soon, so we both walk with canes.


They had left Bend on their RV trip just a few days before we did and the entire time, we were always just a couple days behind them.


We parked the motorhome at the Balloon Fiesta grounds. They told us there would be 1,800 RV’s there by Saturday, which was Opening Day. 

We were very surprised with that huge crowd, that we both happened to pull in about a half hour apart. Furthermore, we ended up parked just a few RV’s away from Jim and Sonja. It made it really convenient to get together to do things.

It was a mile and a half walk from our RV’s to the Balloon Field. This was not going to work for Sonja and I.  So we got a special Fiesta handicap placard which let us park in a handicap lot close to the field where all the action is.



The first activity on Saturday morning is the launching of nine or ten balloons that are called, The Dawn Patrol, at 5:45am. They go up first and test the wind speed and determine if the other balloons can launch.

The Balloon Fiesta is totally at the mercy of weather and there was a cold front that was coming through. Thursday and Friday had been windy, but not cold.


Not wanting to miss anything, we asked how early we should get there.  We were told that the road to the field would be packed with traffic by 4:30am. Four-thirty?? In the morning??  Oh, my goodness!


We set the alarm and got up at 3:30 and were on the street by 4:30. We didn’t bargain for the temperature to be actively dropping and the winds to blow harder, but it did. 


We arrived at the park (in the dark) and it was still quite a walk to the field and a very long walk through all the venders that were there. 

At the Information booth Sonja and I each rented one of only about 10 electric scooters, which made things a lot easier…to a point. The press of people became huge and it was very tough to get through the crowds.

We were glad to find seats at an open picnic table for the guys and we sat there most of the time as we got colder and colder. Don had worn shorts and a short sleeve shirt. He soon found a vendor with long sleeved Balloon Fiesta shirts, while not all that warm at least helped.


We sat and talked and ate a breakfast burrito. Then we watched the time for the Dawn Patrol to launch come and go, same with the time for the Mass Ascension, when all the balloons go up. No balloons anywhere in the sky. 

Then we began to get the word that all had been cancelled due to wind, including the evening activities. How disappointing!!! Then we checked out the vendors, still getting colder by the minute.

I did find at one vendor booth, a picture of what we had hoped to see. I took a picture of it, just in case it was the only shot of the balloons I might get.

 

This is what it is supposed to look like, of course from a much higher elevation than where we were.

Finally we returned the scooters and headed back to the RV to warm up.

Sunday morning we got up at 4:00am and checked the wind speed on the computer. It was high, but supposed to lower later. We went back to bed. 

We got up again at 7:00, opened the curtain on the front window of the motorhome to balloons in the sky. First the Dawn Patrol and shortly afterward began the Mass Ascension.

 

This time we were a little smarter. We sat in our PJ’s with hot coffee in our hands and watched an incredible show in cozy warmth. Much better!

 

  First it was overcast, then the sky brightened up as time went on.

There are a lot of balloons that are “special shapes,” and are really fun.

 This one is called Hamlet, and on the side it says, “When Pigs Fly,” also, “Hamlet for President.” We hear he is a pork barrel politician.

This elephant was one of the funniest ones. I think this may be ‘Horton Hears a Who.’

And of course there had to be an Elvis sighting!

This was truly a pink elephant!

Let’s get up close and personal…

Here we go ‘round the world…almost.

And a pudgy little angel.

How about a chocolate ice cream cone with a cherry on top?

Or a grinning zebra?

The sky full of colorful balloons was really fun to see.

In the evening we went back over to the field to see the “After Glow,” which happens at dusk and after dark when all the balloons light up with the flare of the flame inside them.

First, was five ‘gas balloons,’ filled with helium, that were preparing to race. Normally they were filled with hydrogen, which unfortunately is now only available for medical uses. 

If they could get the hydrogen, which now they can’t, it would cost them $3,500 each time they inflate instead of the $1,000 it cost to inflate with helium.


Prior to the gas restriction, there were usually 10-15 balloonists that raced, but because of the change in the gas situation, there were not that many balloons capable of carrying the different gas.


Balloon races are not won by speed, but by distance. They can float up to a week or so and have ended up as far away as Florida and Nova Scotia. These five can be tracked on the Balloon Fiesta web site, www.balloonfiesta.com.

One by one they gracefully rose into the air and floated out of sight.

They were all white and different shapes. The small basket held the pilot, co-pilot and supplies to last them for a week or so. A pretty snug situation.

There were almost 280 balloons spread out over the field getting ready for the “Glow.” Some were really impressive as one by one they began to inflate. There were some that we had not seen flying earlier in the day.

This was a delivery stork coming out of an egg, I guess.

By this time there is a big crowd and the balloons are beginning to ‘grow’ in an amazing array of color, rising out of the field.

Then we saw the ‘Moo Crew’ beginning to erect a huge balloon right in front of where we were sitting.

Next to it Wells Fargo was erecting another enormous balloon.

The cow, Airabelle, was filled up and lit up. She was adorable and HUGE! She is 80 feet tall, 120 feet long. The envelope of the balloon weighs 910 pounds and requires a Moo-Crew of 16.

Well’s Fargo’s Stage Coach was also really, really big. It is 100 feet from wheel to wheel and 90 feet tall. It weighs 1,445 pounds and has a crew of 20-25 people. Unfortunately we did not get to see either of these huge balloons fly.

As it began to get darker, more and more balloons lit up as people milled around among them.

We decided not to stay for the fireworks show that was next. So after one more look at Airabelle, the cow, we called it a day.

We would be pulling out in the morning.

It was 38 degrees this morning when we got up. The balloons were late getting into the air. As we pulled out they were floating low over the RV’s.

The Fiesta will go on the rest of the week and the weather promises to get better every day. This final scene was a great way to bid farewell to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.

Next, along with Jim and Sonja, we will make a short stop in Roswell, NM and spend the night in Carlsbad, NM before heading into Texas.