Balloons Over Albuquerque: Fiesta Day 2

Now a little wiser, we got up at 5, which is pretty normal for us, but turned on TV to get a report before heading out! We are so close that once the Dawn Patrol was ready to go, we went out and this time, made our way to the field to experience it up close and personal. One of our friends had gone down the morning before, and offered a hand to a balloonist who had only his wife and small son helping with inflation. I was too busy taking photos to hold on, of course! Lots of folks down there, but hard to pull myself away when Clem wanted to go back up for the view above.

These folks dressed in black and white, blow a whistle signaling the balloons are going up, and are referred to as Zebras. This man added a hat to complete the look!

It is so neat that you can walk around so close and get a look at what goes into the entire process, from unfolding the balloon, to cold inflation with fans, to the blast of the heat which warms the air to carry them aloft.

As the sun comes up and hits them, the colors become more vibrant.

Ready for takeoff, and up in the air!

You hardly

know where to look!

Great angles for photos from the ground!

The colors are beautiful, and that along with the angles had me shooting tons of photos!

Love this shot not only for the inflation procedure, but the shadows of the observers walking nearby.

Neat to see them on the ground, and then inflated for liftoff.

Love the rainbow colors here!

And peeking through the strings.

A super morning on the ground, we returned to our vantage point above for the remainder of the morning. It is surprising how the crowds disperse after the launch! We went down to stroll the booths, which is a carnival atmosphere of food and balloon merchandise, some of which surprisingly close down mid day. I guess smaller crowds, and maybe they would prefer we go into town and spend money at the merchants! At any rate, we finally succumbed to the ubiquitous Funnel Cake!

But I figure we walked it off, since being about the middle of the event, we walked all the way to one end to see a car show and chain saw carvers, then all the way to the other end to the official merchandise tent, and then well beyond to the Balloon Museum! We had visited there two years ago before, but I wanted to revisit a bit, and also check out the gift shop. Clem was also interested in the shop.....for realistic balloons he could install on his train layout! He intends to put them near his new RV Park!

After what turned out to be a very warm day, the evening, while still requiring some bundling as the sun set, was not quite as cold for the Night Glow, which we watched from above.

This is the start of a 3 day race with these special helium balloons, who will compete to see who reaches the furthest distance. We can't imagine they are equipped as well as our motorhomes!