Up, Up And Away - Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

This was the first Escapee HOP that we've attended and I must say it was a great experience. Our hosts were wonderful and everything was in place. We lucked out and got a great parking space right across from the "tent".

Thursday morning was a early rise - 5:30 am - so we could see the dawn patrol. This is about six balloons that go up to check the weather, wind and air currents. They are the deciding factor on if the balloons will go up or not. Of course if the weather is bad on the ground it's a no go - period!

It was so neat, seeing the balloons when they would light up in the dark. Anyway, at 7 am the first balloon went up carrying the American flag. It was followed by several more regular balloons then began the special shape mass ascension. In a word - AWESOME! They were followed by the regular balloon mass ascension. The field that was right where we were parked was the game field. They have a long pole and at the top is a key which is worth a special price from cash to a new car. They also have a ribbon toss from the balloons to see who can get closest to the X that marks the spot. It was really neat to watch this activity, how they would attempt to maneuver the balloons close to toss the ribbon which had a weight attached.

Thursday evening we went to the Fiesta park, about a mile away, due north, for the night glow. This is where they have the balloons blown up, but they do not launch, instead, they fire the burners so that the balloons glow in the dark. It was a beautiful night and they did the "all glow" about five times and attempted to do several "twinkle glows". The all glow is when they all light up at once. The twinkle glow is when they turn the burners on and off quickly, making a twinkly effect in the balloons.

This is an event that Dean and I have always wanted to see in person and we were not disappointed.

Friday morning the air currents where going from south to north, so the decision was made to do the mass ascension from the field by us and other empty fields south of the park. While we didn't get a lot of fly overs except from the balloons that launched from south of us, it did give us the opportunity to watch the setup from beginning to launch. Very interesting to see. Unfortunately, the special shapes launched from the park and didn't fly over us.

Friday afternoon there was a talk given by one of the balloonists followed by a delicious catfish and shrimp dinner, yummy.

Because of high winds on Saturday morning, there were no balloon launches. The weather report was that it was going to go downhill all day and into the night and Sunday. We made the decision to go ahead and leave before the rain set in. Where we were parked had all the looks of becoming a mud field when the rain began. We left around 10 am and have stopped at Tucumcari, NM for two nights. It rained and the wind blew so hard last night that we brought the passenger side slide in so the topper wouldn't tare. I think we had wind gusts up close to 50 mph during the night - we certainly rocked!

I read online this morning that the final mass ascension was cancelled for today because of the weather in Albuquerque. I also read that there was damage around town from the storm. I'm glad we made the decision to leave. Besides, it got us out before all the other 500 rv's that were parked around the field!

We are heading for Bay Landing, a 1000 Trails Park for five nights then to McKinney, TX to MCD to have some new shades installed. From there on east. Catch ya next time...

I've loaded four new albums from the Balloon Fiesta at http://www.picasaweb.google.com/SchultzTravelPhotos ENJOY!