Back a couple months ago, when we got a new camera, we decided to schedule a coming out party for it – the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. We planned to make the trip last year, but our schedule filled up we passed. This year, I booked and paid for the hotel in advance, so staying home was not an option!
The drive down was fun. This was our first road trip with just the two of us, and one of the few trips where we weren’t visiting friends or family or conducting business. We took off in the early afternoon and dropped off Peanut with Charlotte's mom and sister before leaving Denver for New Mexico. By the time we were hungry for dinner, we were already down in Las Vegas, NM. This Vegas isn’t really anything like that Vegas, you understand. Then again, what is?! Anyway, after a lovely dinner, we arrived down in Albuquerque at around 10:00 PM.
The motel I’d booked, the Silver Moon Lodge, is in the middle of the happening part of Albuquerque on Central Ave. This didn’t really factor into the weekend for us, as we woke up at 5:00 AM on Saturday and at 4:30 AM on Sunday. What mattered to me was that the price was right! Unfortunately however, the walls were paper thin (unless that was the World Snoring Championships I heard going on in room 122), and the floors creaky. Sleep didn’t come easily this weekend!
The Fiesta itself was a lot of fun. Saturday morning we woke to see overcast skies, but the Mass Ascension went off as planned. Standing amongst all the balloons as they filled and took off was pretty inspiring. The event planned for Saturday night was a lighting of the balloons while tethered on the ground. That would have been something to see, I’m sure. This time Mother Nature had other plans, as gusty winds made it unsafe to fill up the balloons. We still had a lot of fun, and everybody at the Fiesta didn’t seem to miss a beat. Sunday morning we got a bit of decent sunshine and clear skies, which made for favorable photography conditions for the final Mass Ascension of the Fiesta. Nearly all of my best balloon photos came during about a 15 minute interval!
Our Balloon Fiesta weekend was fun, but it went by too fast. Fourteen hours of driving in a weekend is a lot! Next time maybe we’ll take an extra day to sightsee and we’ll also try and book a ride in one of the balloons.
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