Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta - A must see !!

There is a bit of time to kill before we are scheduled to go to Albuquerque.  We have by this time seen enough petroglyphs, ruins, canyons, bluffs, buttes and mesas.  So a fun afternoon and great lunch was had at The El Rancho, in Gallup NM. It was built in 1937 on Route 66 (of course) and was the hotel to the stars of the day.   Ronald Reagan, Kirk Douglas, Jimmy Stewart, and my favorite Katherine Hepburn stayed here during filmings.  The decor was a rugged, rustic western elegance. We both loved identifying the stars on all the 8x10 glosses on the walls.   The restaurant with Hollywood Star named entrees was pretty dang yummy.  Truly, this is a very nice tourist stop.

 *Fun and Classic Hollywood Hotel and resturant on Route 66 - Gallup NM

*Classic Style

*This stair case is a complete stunner

 

 

The Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta has been an event we have wanted to see for years. It did not disappoint us a bit. We caught up with some of our Snowbird friends; Marshall and Marcia. They had been networking with fellow balloon enthusiasts, RVers and Balloonist. They invited us to a big dinner with their group to a super cool Mexican restaurant; El Pinto. It was such a fun night with a huge variety of stories being shared.

 

*So fun to see you guys!  Have a fun winter in Cali

 

*These and more Vintage and Antique trailer are available for rent (on site only) at Enchanted Trails RV Resort

*So cute!!

 

One thing to know is balloon fests are very temperamental.Wind, rain and lighting do shut the launches down.We stayed in touch with the weather channel and saw a launch each time we attended.There is a competition.However, the real fun is in the character of the launches, The Dawn Patrol ( The first four or five balloons to scout out the air space), Special Shapes, Glow launches and the biggy; The Mass Ascension.There was also a fireworks display (that we missed).We did pick and choose when to go.Even though Les and I loved this Fiesta we were not inclined to spend $26.00 per launch (2 launches per day).It was nice to see some of our favorites from the BC event. Albuquerquehas so many more (About 600).It is breathtaking at every glance.This was also the first time we have been able to walk on the field among the balloons.It really is quite a cooperative happy group of spectators.At times observers jumped in to help during occasional balloon emergencies.

*5:00am and te midway is filling up fast

*This easily became our favorite morning stop

*This is shear Little River of Doughnut Genius

*getting ready to go

*Let the flights begin!!!

*Some familar faces

*Way to represent - Go BC!!!!

*One of our favs form BC - Purple People eater

*Arky in the sky

*Only you can........When Pigs Fly

*Balloon Fiesta is a bucket list must

*Do not forget

* Some rain days did occur - look for the rainbows

*First up for the Morning Glow Flight

*Begining of the Mass Assention

*It is such a great experience to be on the field

 

*The Zebras are effective Balloon traffic cops

*By standers jump to the rescue of a wind swept balloon (This was a bit scary)

*A photo of this balloon was on my office wall for years - so nice to see it still flying                        ( I know it is probably the 2nd or 3rd generation)

*Every turn you make is an amazing photo!!

*View of the field from the Balloon History Museum

 

*Just had to stop (*-*)

 

Next time, we will do a few things differently.We will find an RV park or housing closer to the Fiesta.Our park was about 30 minutes out.Being closer would give us a better feeling of connection to the activities. We would also give ourselves more of an opportunity to see more of Albuquerque. We are so glad we attended and happy to see friends.We stayed for 4 days of the 10 day Fiesta.For us this was a perfect length of time. 

Hey it is starting to cool down a bit here!!

12 Oct 2014

************************************************************************