Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

-

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.


Citing 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, the fiesta logged 955,703 visitors



It was so cool being on the field before sunrise as the crews were inflating and lifting off 
so many of these huge  balloons.


On Friday and Saturday evenings they have a balloon glow where they
inflate the balloons and light them in unison to create a glowing effect on the field.  




Balloons of every color





Balloons of every shape




Kind of looks like these guys are square dancing doesn't it?


After getting up at 4:30am on Friday and Saturday to catch the early shuttle over to the launch field, we decided to sleep in on Sunday morning.

We were awakened by the sound of the balloon burners over our RV.



So all we had to do on this morning was roll out of bed, make coffee and enjoy the balloons 
right at our RV. No early alarm or shuttle bus required.


Seems that on this morning the balloons were launching and drifting south over where 
most of the RVs sites were.


After being delayed for 2 years, we are definitely glad we came.


Until next time...Make it a Great Day!!!

































Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Waco Texas to Galveston

-
Image
Waco Texas to Galveston Texas is a big state with lots of miles in between our stops. After leaving Roswell NM we had two full days of driving to get to our first destination, Waco, Texas. We learned that the Chisholm Trail came through this part of Texas The Chisholm Trail was a trail used in the post-Civil War era to drive cattle overland from  ranches in Texas to Kansas railheads. Cattle were driven along the trail and brought across the Brazos River over this toll bridge in Waco https://wacohistory.org/items/show/24 We also visited the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame Museum And then we had to see the newest tourist attraction in Waco The Silos at Magnolia Market.... created by Chip and Joanna Gaines of HGTV Fixer Upper Fame! What was once an old 20,000 sq. ft. barn and a couple of cotton seed grain silos in the  old downtown was transformed in 2015 into the Silos at Magnolia Market With more than 30,000 visitors a
Read more

US Military Bone Yard

-
Image
The Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona is home to the largest military aircraft boneyard in the world. The 2,600 -acre boneyard currently holds over 3,975 aircraft and 13 aerospace vehicles from the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Navy-Marine Corps, and NASA. This is where all the unused and obsolete aircraft are parked in the desert until they can be either sold or scrapped. Security is tight here and you must submit 10 days in advance to a background check before they will allow you to make a reservation for the boneyard tour. When entering the base on the tour everyone must exit the bus and wait in a windowless concrete garage type building while they search the bus. While traveling across the base on your way to the boneyard no photos are allowed until you enter the boneyard gate. Cameras and phones will be confiscated if you are caught taking pictures on the base Once in the boneyard there are row after row after row of aircraft here awaiti
Read more

Titan Missle Silo

-
Image
Use the subscribe button above to sign up for email notification of new blog posts Click on any photo to enlarge  We recently visited a Titan II missile silo museum out in the desert west of Tucson AZ. From the spring of 1963 through the spring of 1984 Titan II Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles were on alert in hardened underground bunkers in the US. There were 18 Titan II missile silos around Little Rock Arkansas, Wichita Kansas and Tucson Arizona for a total of 54 missiles scattered across the prairies and deserts of the southern United States. The museum is an original silo from the cold war and it holds the last remaining Titan II missile. With the missile sites being small 1 acre sites scattered across the prairie and desert there was no one stationed topside to let you in. Instead you had to use a phone at the electrified gate giving a password to be let in. Once you were granted access you had 3 minutes to make your way across the complex t
Read more