Albuquerque balloon festival

The end of our summer vacation could not have been better. We were very lucky to be passing through Albuquerque during the final weekend of the balloon festival, plus we know a couple wonderful women who let us park Howie next to their house overnight, plus Danny and his friend Patrick drove down from Denver for the weekend. We all had such a fabulous time watching balloons, talking and laughing, what a way to finish up our western tour this year.

Annette, Danny, me, Patrick, John, and Deb (and too bad there wasn't a balloon attached to this basket!):


Saturday evening was going to be a "balloon glow" but the winds were too high to allow any balloons to be inflated. But we got to see the rest of the equipment in action:


John are a ...


The next morning before dawn they set up 10 balloons in a row for a version of balloon glow, which was really neat:



We couldn't believe how close you could get to the balloons and the folks manning the big flames from within the baskets:


John has an idea:


Balloon festival friends:


Around dawn, balloons started taking off here and there:


Heading over to another part of the huge field:


Balloons in various stages of lift-off (hard to believe how close together they sit):


John and Annette:


Many things to look at all at once:


This group shot would have been better with just a little more light:



Fanning a balloon to get it started before sticking a flame under it:


Balloons everywhere!


Pepsi, anyone?


Looks like this cat is eyeing the small child:


The owl on the other side of the pussycat balloon:


Nice cow! There was too much wind for this balloon to fly, but at least we got to see it:


Peace - or - Team V!


Sometimes they do:


Look what John got me!


Danny and John:


Humpty Dumpty:


I like the colors in this photo:


Wells Fargo stagecoach:


Yep, that's a rooster:


The bees getting ready to take off - they are so cool:


Bye bees!


On the busride home, we spotted this random balloon out the window:


Too much fun! What a great experience - we highly recommend this event! And a huge thanks to Deb, Annette, Patrick, and Danny for making it a very special weekend.