Wednesday
October 11 Thru Sunday October 15 – Albuquerque International
Balloon Fiesta
Wednesday
– We made it to my bucket list event! Arrived at the Balloon Fiesta
RV Park around 12:30. Turned into the wrong driveway but eventually
got turned around and made it to the RV Park check in. Our spot ended
up to be way on the south end of the park in section 30. The ground
was a little crooked but we were able to level the camper so all was
good. The nice part about our site was we did not have anyone in back
of us so we had a clear view to the north sky to see the balloons.
Our friends Jim and Bonnie were parked in an area west of us along a
cemetery. That was a really good spot as well and if we come back
again we are going to try and get a spot there. There were no events
that evening so we just hung around the camper.
Thursday
– On Thursday and Friday of the Fiesta are special shapes days. We
went to the morning launch and the evening glow on Thursday. It was
awesome! There were about 500 balloons registered and we found out
most of them launched in that morning. In the evening there were many
special shapes balloons. The balloons inflate but stayed on the
ground. Once it got dark the balloons lite up when the propane
burners fired. We attended the evening glow with Jim and Bonnie.
Friday
– We decided to watch the morning launch from the campground. I
woke up around 6:30, looked out my window and the balloons were
already going up. We had a ringside seat as the wind was out of the
north that morning and a lot of the balloons came south right over
the campground. There was a landing area, the box, just to the west
of the campground and many of the shapes landed there. Later in the
morning we went to a Walmart to purchase a few groceries and use the
Wi-Fi. We went out for supper with Jim and Bonnie and her sister and
husband.
Saturday
– Again we watched the morning launch from the campground. The wind
was pretty claim and many of the balloons just hovered over the
launch field. Some of the eventually drifted our way and landed in
the box. Some of them even landed on the campground roads. Later that
morning we took a drive north to check out a Army Core of Engineers
park, Cochiti Lake, halfway between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. We may
go there when we leave Albuquerque on Monday. On the way back we
drove the Turquoise Trail around the other side of Sandia Peak. Near
Tijeras we drove the Singing Road. It was a bit of a disappointment
as it was only about 100 yards long. But it was neat while it lasted!
Saturday night was another glow and fireworks. We went to the launch
field to watch but it turned out it was too windy to put up the
balloons. The pilots did a candle glow where they fire up there
gondola burners. We stayed for the fireworks which were worth the
wait.
Sunday
– There was another Mass Ascension scheduled for this morning but
again the winds did not cooperate and no balloons launched. All and
all this was an awesome experience and well worth attending. We are
staying here today. Tomorrow we will head north to Cochiti Lake
Campground.
Temps:
Its been typical high desert weather with lows at night in the 40's
and 50's and daytime highs in the upper 70's and low 80's. 80 degrees
is not bad if your in the shade but the sun and still very warm.
Thursday morning when we were at the balloon fiesta launch it was
only 50 degrees and we FROZE!
Enjoyed your post. It was on my bucket list also. We are here at the AFB FamCamp. We went to the Balloon Fiesta on Wed. morning, Thur. night (park and ride from the base) and got up at 3:30am to make our way to the park on Friday. Each event was awesome. Living the dream.
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