The Spirit of Adventure 2.0

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta We originally had reservations to see the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta in 2017 but Hurricane Irma hit south Florida on Sept. 10 of that year delaying our departure by approximately 4 weeks. Two years later we are finally here The Balloon Fiesta is a nine-day event occurring in the first full week of October, and has 600 hot air balloons each year. The event is the largest balloon festival in the world. The first year for this Balloon Fiesta was 1972 with a small number of balloons.   The number of registered balloons reached a peak of 1,019 in 2000, prompting the  Balloon Fiesta Board to limit the number to 750 starting in 2001. C iting a desire for "quality over quantity" and the limited number of landing zones in the growing city,  the maximum balloon limit was lowered to 600 in 2009.  On any given day during the festival, up to 100,000 spectators may be on the launch field In 2015,...

On Our Way To Albuquerque  With just under two weeks until the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta we have about 1100 miles to cover to get there. So we made a quick two night stop in the Flaming Gorge area of Utah Came across this... display in a country store way out in the country. The things you see on the road, right? Moved on to Vernal Utah where we went to Dinosaur National Monument An actual dinosaur skeleton on display. Millions of years ago a great river flowed through this area with a sharp bend where  this desert hillside is today.  Over time, as water levels rose and fell, and dinosaurs died, their bones were swept away  and deposited in the river bank here leaving this large collection of bones. Although many bones and full skeletons have been removed and shipped all over the country  there are still over 1500 actual dinosaur bones here in the hill side. Back in Vernal Utah it was time ...

Grand Tetons National Park Grand Teton National park is a beautiful area just south of Yellowstone. We came here as we headed south ahead of the approaching snow. W e spent a couple of nights here.  We saw the first signs of fall here. We were hoping to see some moose w hen we came here . And we weren't disappointed. It's kind of sad to see the way photographers harass the moose. It's very dangerous the way they will follow the moose into the forest, surrounding them, we actually thought one moose might charge at a couple of these people. As the winter weather continued to come this way, it was time to go. We stopped off in Jackson Hole Wyoming on our way south. With a cold rain falling and the forecast saying in will change to snow... We are out of here!!