By good fortune Mom and I are visiting Albuquerque during it's one week long annual Hot Air Balloon Fiesta. I didn't know of it before, and we were also fortunate enough to be able to book a hotel room just a mile away from the venue itself.
We got up at 4.45am to shower and head out to the nearby Balloon Fiesta Park. It's not a green park with trees. It's a big flat park with grass and gravel car park. We arrived before dawn and it was pretty chilly. I didn't bother to wear my ridiculously cumbersome skiing gloves, thus my fingers were in my pockets whenever they weren't holding my camera.
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| $6 admission. Children are free. Yeah, kids are cheap. |
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| Typical stuff at fun fairs and festivals. |
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| There's a reason I dislike food at fun fairs. It's the same reason so many others love the food :). |
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| The flares were actually much taller and more powerful. When they 'flare' it, people would shout "Do it again! It's so warm!" I agree wholeheartedly. |
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| The owner of this balloon let the kids get into the balloon before they lift it. Guess kids are always welcomed to most things... |
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| First they blow normal air into the balloon with a fan to fill it up a bit. Then they lit the flares to warm the air inside the balloon and lift it. |
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| This was one of the first few to lift off~ |
No kidding, there were at least 30-40 hot air balloons there and they came in all sorts of shapes haha.
Everyone near me snapped their cameras like crazy at the Rooster when it turned and looked at us.
The Little Bees were quite adorable.
This Penguin bought its camera for show because it never used it.
So happy lah these Kangaroos.
The only handsome guy on the whole field.
Almost none of the weird shaped balloons took off. They were just filled up with air and looked nice for an hour then they were deflated. The round ones lifted off though, and one can only wonder where they land.
Today, Friday, isn't one of the 'mass ascension' days. The whole event takes place between the first and second weekends of October, and mass ascension takes place on Saturday, Wednesday and Sunday. According to the booklet and Aunty LaiWan, mass ascension involves hundreds of hot air balloons going up in two waves that can last two hours. Now that's awesome. Something we won't be seeing though haha.
Mom and Aunty LaiWan are sleeping now in the hotel. Soon we will leave for Mount Sandia, then to Los Alamos where Aunty LaiWan stays.
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