Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta - Last Evening

 

This was part of the grand finale of the 2015 Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.  A couple of us went down to the park and saw the balloons up close.  It was a mass of humanity, but being close to the balloons being blown up was worth it. 

 

 

This was one of the more unique ways of getting the balloons out to the field.   You can see the basket in the back, since they hadn't unloaded it yet. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After it got too dark for pictures - more fireworks!!  Then - ice cream!



 

 

This event was great fun! 

 

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta - Special Shapes

 

The other day at the Balloon Fiesta Park, the theme was special shapes.  Of the 500-600 hot air balloons in this Fiesta this year, I don't know how many special shaped balloons there were.  These are only a few of the balloons we saw.  It was great fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta - Day 5

 

This is day 5 of this fantastic event even though I've missed a few days by doing other things. This is the first day we took a shuttle from the casino to the actual field where the balloons take off. We started out from our RVs about 4:45 to get the shuttle the casino supplies for a small fee. 

 

It was still totally dark when we arrived at the gate and wandered out into the field where trucks were pulling trailers full of balloons and equipment into the area. We watched them as they spread out the balloons and started getting the other equipment together.

 

As the balloons were filled with hot air, they started to rise from the ground until the baskets were sitting upright. The balloons were still tethered to the ground and every once in a while you'd hear them give the propane burner a throttle just to keep the hot air in them.

 

They sat there a while, lighting up the balloons and then letting them go dark again until they needed more hot air.

 

When it became light enough, the balloons slowly started to rise. It took approximately 1-2 hours for most of the balloons to take off. We wandered around the field looking at all the different balloons and taking pictures.  Even the police were there.....

Hope you enjoy these photos......
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta - Day 2

 

 

This morning, I got up at 5:30 to see the balloons glow as they rose from the earth.  We saw them on the ground, glowing, but they never went up.  The balloons were delayed due to weather - ominous clouds surrounded the area.  By 7:30 or so, it was light and the first balloons started to rise.  I took a few shots and the pilots were lucky that it didn't rain.  The morning was still so they rose slowly and just drifted around.  I'm sure if it had started to rain, they would have landed and packed up before it got too wet.  Rain is not good for the balloons.

 

This little grouping shows a special shaped balloon - a fish bowl!  How cute!

 

 

 

This one is a little dog sitting among the other balloons, including a blue chicken who wouldn't turn around.

 

 

Not sure who this is - but the shaped balloons are cute!

 

 

Time is not moving fast today!

 

 

Tropical birds!

 

 

Whale!

 

 

Just another group with more to come in another few days.

 

 

 

 

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta - Day 1



 

The Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta has been held every year for decades and the casino parking lot nearby the balloon park is a favorite camping place for RVers. It actually looks more like a an RV sales lot than anything else. 

 

There has been a reunion of quite a few solo women RVers that I have met during the past year or so, and we have decided not to do the first couple first few events during this coming weekend because of the crowds.  It will be crowded enough for us during the weekdays.

 

I got here a few days early to be sure that I would be able to get a parking spot and other people kept rolling in through the week.

 

They have been having trial runs the past few mornings and I went out this morning and took a couple pictures.  There were quite a few balloons up, but it's going to be nothing compared to the next few days where they'll have over 500 balloons ascending.

 

There will be different categories during the next week, including twilight events where the balloons will be lit up and glowing.

 

This is just a tiny sample of what I'll be seeing through the week.