Would You Like To Ride In A Beautiful Balloon

Several years ago we checked another item off of my bucket list, the Albuquerque International Balloon Festival. It was an amazing experience but to understand why it was on my bucket list I have to go back to a demonstration that a local balloonists did at my kids' elementary school.

The kids all gathered in the playground area and watched as he and his wife unrolled the balloon and fired up the propane tank to blow hot air into the huge balloon bottom. It didn't take long before the balloon was vertical and the mouths of all of us watching were hanging open in awe. Since it was not flying weather, he quickly deflated the balloon and while the kids filed back into school they rolled it up and packed it into the back of their truck.

I would find out later that the couple were a part of our church and I met them there on occasion and had the opportunity to listen to some of the tales of their ballooning experiences. I was not ready to fly though.

Fast forward to New Mexico and watching seven hundred balloons inflate and ascend into the air and I found myself once again gaping in awe. They float over your head and each is a unique design, some resembling animals, others cartoon characters and still others intricate designs. It was an early morning launch because that's when the air is still and less wind is better. We returned in the evening for an illumination of balloons but there was no launch. The wind had kicked up a bit and even then they shut down early because the several balloons that were illuminated (the propane fire lights them up) were blowing too much.

In all this time though, I've never had the courage to take a ride. While it might be a wonderful sensation for many, I'm not so sure I would enjoy it. No, I'd rather watch from the ground. I did find an article that describes a ride in a balloon. You might find it interesting. It's called Lessons Learned From Up In The Air.

The National Park Road Trip - One Last Day

The plan for the morning of October 5 was to sleep in a little (7:30 a.m.), catch a quick breakfast at the hotel, and go to the park that we'd passed the day before that was designated as one of the landing areas for the International Balloon Fiesta. As we listened to the local TV news while we dressed, we slowed our pace. They reported that the Mass Ascension of balloons would not take place because of the wind conditions.

Ah, there's nothing like having to regroup when you're tired. We perked after a little coffee and decided that we would go into Old Town Albuquerque and walk around a bit and then head to the Sandia Mountain Tramway for a ride to the top.

Old Town dates back to 1706 way before New Mexico became a state. We were a little early arriving. The shops weren't open and it seemed that a lot of the restaurants were closed as well--either we were way too early or they were closed for Sunday. The church bells were ringing at the San Filipe de Niri Church and we surmised that the cars parked along the streets were parishioners since not many people were walking the sidewalks with us.

As much as we had seen green chile advertised in food items at the Fiesta and in local restaurants, there were even more chiles here. But these chiles were red and were hanging everywhere in bunches. They lent a striking red accent to the adobe style buildings.

One proprietor just opening her shop saw me taking pictures and told me to wait while she got her sidewalk painting out that showed the flowers of New Mexico. She was happy for me to take the picture and then said we were welcome in the store she was just opening.

While I'm sure Old Town would have been lovely most any other time, our legs felt leaden and we were trudging along. It is a great place to  shop for some unique gifts and later in the day it would have been fun to sample some of the local dishes--provided you have your antacid, but we were tired. I think all the hiking and early morning rising had caught up to us. Dare I say at our age it doesn't take long?

After taking a look at another section of Route 66 that goes through Albuquerque, we stopped for another cup of coffee and started our drive out to Sandia Mountain. It was a pleasant drive and we got to see some very nice suburbs. When we made our way to the Tramway, a cable car that goes up to the top of Sandia for great views, we stopped at the entrance and asked how long the wait was. Two and a half hours! Thanks but no,thanks. We turned the car around and pulled off the side of the road a bit to reconnoiter as we say.

A jogger stopped to ask if we needed help. She was happy to give us some suggestions of trails in the area and even suggested a restaurant for us. Once she was on her way, we decided that we couldn't do another trail and would just drive around the mountain a bit.





We enjoyed fish tacos for lunch (no green chiles) and went back to Homewood Suites to pack for our trip home. It would be a long travel day tomorrow. Already Bob had received notice of airport delays in Chicago. Thankfully we both had good books to read. I plugged in my Nook. He plugged in his Kindle. We were ready to go home.

The National Park Road Trip - Evening Balloon Fiesta

Somewhat rested after a short nap and good college football game, we once again gathered our gear and headed for the International Balloon Fiesta. The Gondola Club was due to open at 5 p.m. and it was suggested we get there around 4:30. There was no traffic to speak of until shortly before the Park so we arrived even earlier and decided to walk the rest of Main Street that we had missed in the morning.

The sun was pretty warm. Don't believe anything you hear about a "dry heat." Heat is heat and the only part of dry heat is the part that makes your nasal cavities dry creating a stuffy feeling and often a slightly bloody nose. We'd been fighting that all along our Southwestern trip. I countered it somewhat with Vaseline swabbed in my nose but it only helped a little.

After a day and a half in Albuquerque we were getting the idea that these people really like their green chiles. Every food we saw had green chile worked into it--stew, sauce, in hamburgers, scrambled eggs. You name, they added green chile to it. Heartburn heaven.

It was getting on to five so we headed back to the Gondola Club and found a long line of people waiting to get in. Tables filled up fast but we found our morning table still available and joined two couples who had also made a National Park Road Trip--different parks though.

The evening after dinner was to be one of Twilight Twinkle Glow where balloons inflate and they glow but don't fly and the start of  America's Challenge Gas Balloon Race, a race to see who can stay up the longest and travel the farthest after their balloon is inflated with hydrogen.

While we finished our desert and coffee, we watched a couple of balloons trying to inflate near our view point. There was a slight breeze and inflation looked a bit dangerous as the balloons would sway in the breeze. In the end, for the Twilight Twinkle Glow only a handful of balloons inflated and twinkled a couple of times before it was called off completely.

So too was the start of the America's Challenge Gas Balloon Race. It was postponed until midnight or later when the wind would die down. (Later we learned that the balloons did not launch until early Tuesday morning.) The year before the winning balloonists had traveled all the way to Ontario, Canada. (The winning 2014 team made it to Findlay, Kentucky in 53 hours 27 minutes.) There are no rest stops along the way. 'Nuff said.

While the balloons couldn't do much for the evening show all was not lost and we enjoyed a wonderful fireworks display at the end of the evening before going back to our hotel. Exhausted, we fell into bed and I don't think either of us heard the noisy A/C kick on and off once our eyes closed.

The National Park Road Trip - The Grand Finale

It has long been on my bucket list. I don't even remember when I first heard of it but when I did, it stuck with me and the desire to see it only grew. Albuquerque, New Mexico. The International Balloon Fiesta. We were here!

Neither of us slept very well at the Hometown Suites where we were staying. For one, the A/C was loud and located right in the bedroom. Who designed that?? When it was off, the room heated up even though the night was cool and we could open the windows about three inches in each room. Bob gave up and turned on the noisy A/C.

Part of not sleeping though was excitement and anticipation, I'm sure, on my part. We had to leave at 4:30 a.m. in order to arrive at the Balloon Fiesta Park some time around 5 which was suggested in order to get into the parking area on time. My wonderful husband, knowing how much this meant to me, bought us all-day tickets for the Gondola Club. It got us special close-in parking, breakfast and dinner, and a front row seat for all the festivities on the field.

A golf cart driven by a cheery volunteer (must have been a morning person) took us to the Gondola Club which was a huge tented area with chairs and tables inside and out. We checked in and were in time for the start of a fantastic buffet breakfast.

Great hot coffee helped warm us until Bob found an outdoor heater. He claimed a spot under it and I wandered down to a corner of the outdoor area nearest the temporary fence where I could set up my camera and tripod. Thanks again to my beautiful daughter-in-law, Lori, for all the suggestions for how to get good shots at the Fiesta.

In the dark of the early morning, shadowy forms began to rise from the ground and suddenly started to light up for a couple of seconds here and there. It was the early morning dawn patrol getting ready to test the winds. About a dozen lifted off the ground at about 6 a.m. and floated over our heads to the cheers of thousands on the field below us. I was in awe.

But so much more was yet to come! As dawn lightened the sky, more and more balloons began to fill and grow from the field to huge colorful objects, some round like balloons and others taking on the shape of many different characters--a beaver, a cow, Yoda, Darth Vader, Angry Bird, a fire hydrant with a little fireman soon following, dogs, cats, a witch on a broom, the list went on.

At 6:30, the Morning Glow began. Those balloons that were fully inflated began to glow with a controlled burn. The announcer would count down so that they would glow together--somewhat. That was helpful to all the photographers who had their cameras on tripods with a delayed shutter. (I've learned that hands off helps keep the camera steady while the shutter is open longer.)

Soon after, there was the playing of the National Anthem and the Fiesta Balloon rose into the sky with the flag. The music done, the balloons began the Mass Ascension. It was estimated that there would be about 600 balloons participating. The biggest year was 1,000. I wondered how in the world they would all get off the ground without running into each other.

As the balloons began to rise and the sun was high enough to dispense with the tripod since I didn't need a longer exposure for pictures, we stuffed the tripod into my backpack and walked down onto the field where the balloons were still being inflated and launched. The Mass Ascension would take about two hours.

Careful to not step on lines and stay clear of the crews, we were able to walk among the balloons and get a close up view of how the balloons were inflated. It is all done with hot air provided by the heat of propane tanks. Some of those flames seemed so big that I wondered they didn't catch the material of the balloons on fire.

Along the way we found out how the Mass Ascension was organized. There was a team of people dressed in black and white striped shirts like referees and with a big white Mickey Mouse type glove on one hand who would give the all go signal when it was safe to proceed. They were all connected by radio so that various balloons in the field were spaced far enough apart for take off. It's an amazing organization and I'm sure the 43 years of experience have lent to the success.

Crews were often dressed in themed costumes that went with their balloons. At times it almost felt like an early Halloween. Silly hats were the order of the day. And one very daring lady had a fake naked butt hanging on the outside of her jeans. She was the one of the crew who crawled under the balloon to help lift it off of the wet dewy grass. I wondered if the smooth plastic butt helped her to slide beneath the nylon.

The sky was filled with balloons before long and as the day dawned, the winds shifted a bit. Instead of passing directly over the Gondola Club, they were now veering slightly more to the East. I wondered where they would find a place to land. Albuquerque is a growing city and stretches out in all directions. This year according to new reports we'd read, they had sodded a new area that could be used for landing. We also read that a new app was made for balloon operators and tablets containing the app were handed out to balloonists to help navigate (as much as you could a balloon at the mercy of wind direction).

As the sun rose higher in the sky, we positioned ourselves with the sunlight behind us in order to enjoy the balloons more without squinting. It allowed for better pictures as well. The two hours passed quickly watching the spectacle on the ground take to the skies and soon it was obvious that not all would be airborne. The larger character balloons often don't take off but inflate just for show. They are a bit trickier to navigate.

There was still one character balloon before us that we could watch inflate and when it did, we watched delighted children get a "ride" on it. The younger ones were too short to be seen over the gondola so the owner lifted each up for a picture. The tether held the balloon just about three feet off the ground. Later we saw him take older kids up a bit higher, still tethered but about 15 feet off the ground. What a thrill for them. Appropriately the character balloon was a stork.

We found ourselves about halfway down the huge field now mostly empty of balloons and decided to walk back to the Gondola Club along Main Street. Vendors of all sorts mostly with food and souvenirs lined the street. It was like visiting the county fair back home. A larger tent held an entertainment area for bands and/or dancers.

When we got to the place where people were amassing to take the shuttle bus back to their parking areas, we were doubly thankful for the special tickets we'd gotten. The crowd was huge. Still, it was a great way to come to the Park. You could park at several designated areas a couple miles away and get a bus ride (school buses) to the Park and back to your car. The cost of a park and ride ticket was only $12-20 depending upon when you purchased it.

Back at the Gondola Club, we got another cup of coffee and used the temporary facilities set up there which were almost like a regular restroom. Another star for my husband. As we exited to rest for the evening festivities, we collected our gift, stadium seats w/blankets, and souvenir pins. We drove back to our hotel and I crashed for a couple of hours only to awake to the sounds of my husband cheering on the Buckeyes. His second treat for the day--wide screen TV for his beloved OSU Buckeye game. And they won!