Oct 13, Albuquerque #2

After a quiet day at the HIE, which included a nap, we returned to the Balloon Park for dinner and the evening glow.

The team pulls the balloon from the bag

 And lays it out in preparation for the blower

 It takes a team to keep it on the ground

 The Wicked Balloon has a great song title/slogan to use

After five weeks on the road (one extra thanks to hurricane Florence) we drove back towards home.
 
It was a great trip.

Oct 13, Albuquerque #1

Since we had two nights, nonrefundable, at the Holiday Inn Express Balloon Park, we stayed for a second day.  The HIE is very conveniently located, within walking distance of the Park (about 1 mile through residential streets), but they offer a free shuttle.

  The route is through residential streets to an entrance used only by buses so you don't get hung up in the very slowly moving clump of cars heading for parking.  They run the shuttle continuously and we never had to wait more than 15 minutes for the van to show up and take us there or back.

A note on logistics for the Balloon Fiesta: They had crowds of about 100K every day.  There's a morning ascension and an evening glow, so twice a day they fill the parking lots and then empty them out.  The show is short -- approximately 2 hours.  

Here's our experience:
On Friday we arrived (from Santa Fe) and got into the parking line about 6am.  We were parked ($15) and walked to balloons by about 6:30am.  The walk was about half a mile, maybe more. 

 The Dawn Patrol was up when we got there, and the regular balloons were beginning to fill as we arrived.  At 7am the flag flying balloon rose and someone sang the National Anthem.  Many more balloons followed, with the last ascension about 8:15am. 

   A number of Special Shape balloons did not fly, but remained inflated as static displays until about 9am.  By that time the competition balloons were finishing their loop and attempting to sling their hoops onto the poles.

  We walked through the vendor tents, had a donut or two, and returned to our car by about 10:15am, and the parking lot was about 10% filled at that point.

We returned (this time via the hotel shuttle) about 5:30pm, bought dinner from one of the food tents (nothing special, typical state fair kind of food) and at 6pm the Glowdeo began.  It ended shortly after 7pm, and we stayed for the fireworks which began at 8pm and lasted 15 minutes.  We shuttled back to the hotel.

Saturday we got up early, not as early as Friday, but still before HIE had their 6:30 breakfast service available.  We took the shuttle (running since 4:30am) to the Park.  The Dawn Patrol was already up and the regular balloons were filling.

 At 7am the flag arose, the National Anthem was sung.  The flag was carried by a balloon sponsored by a Mexican beer.  I guess hot air balloons are not fazed by a border wall.

 Here's how they get a balloon into the air.  First they lay it out with the gondola on its side.  The fire up a gasoline powered industrial fan that blows air into the bag.  You can see two helpers holding the throat open.

 Once the bag is inflated the pilot lights off the burners and heats us the air in the envelope.

 In just a minute or two, the balloon rises to a standing position.  Lots of helpers hang on the edges of the basket to keep it earthbound until it's time to lift off.

 Arabella flew on Saturday after spending Friday grounded.

 The newspaper said 567 balloons were present, with 97 of them Special Shapes.  My guess was that at least 300 flew on both Friday and Saturday.

 The Wells Fargo Wagon didn't fly during our visits, but it did inflate all four times  Here's the ground crew wrestling it back down when the deflated it Saturday morning.

 Another zebra continuing the black/white theme.

 An example of the state fair food offered along the midway.  There were no rides except a few simple things for small children.

The Balloon Fiesta does a great job of getting 100K people in and out in a couple of hours.  The standard Disney mantra applies here also -- the three most important things for the Balloon Fiesta are  "Arrive early, arrive early, arrive early."

Oct 12 Albuquerque, #2

After the morning ascension we would have liked nothing better than to go the hotel and take a nap.  But since we were checking into a hotel not far from the balloon grounds, the room wouldn't be available until 3pm.  The balloons had pretty much finished their morning flights by 10am, so we needed to find something else to do.  We did think about just falling asleep in the car but the old adage, "You're on vacation, you can sleep when you get home" came into play.

So we went to Old Town Albuquerque, downtown.  There are a few old buildings, including the church.  But it was mostly vendors selling Indian jewelry, pottery, and rugs, as well as tourist staples like food, ice cream and fudge.

 The highlight was Cynthia talking to a WWII veteran Navajo Code Talker.  He was selling and signing books, and is one of the few code talkers still alive. 

 After lunch we went further afield, and visited one of the units of Petroglyph National Monument.

 The symbols were etched up to 700 years ago.

 That killed enough time that we could check in to the hotel.  But shortly it was time for the evening Glowdeo (a portmanteau of glow and rodeo).  The festivities were opened by a parachute team (who jumped from a propeller plane, and not a balloon).

 We did eat dinner at the Fiesta.  There was a typical state fair midway with food outlets and tourist items.  While we were dining on the grass waiting for the Glow to begin we watched the balloon judges and safety officers (who are called "zebras" for their attire) interact with the crowd.  The zebras try to keep people and balloons safe during the event, and seemed to do a good job.

 The evening Glowdeo

 Mother Nature was not about to be outdone by burning propane.

 The Friday Glowdeo was for Special Shapes, as well as normal round balloons.

 The Glowdeo lasted about an hour.  Once it was well underway, the announcers would occasionally countdown to an "ALL BURN" where every balloon would fire their burner for 10-15 seconds. 

 There was a fireworks show after the glow.  It opened with the parachute team jumping from the plane and firing fireworks as they descended.

 The fireworks show was OK, but years of Disney have spoiled me.  There was no music, the timing was off, and while there was a finale of sorts, it just sort of tapered off rather than ending with a big bang.  But it was a great day and the balloons are awesome!