Balloon Fiesta 2013

As much as I sometimes dislike the "culture"/lack thereof here in Albuquerque, I just really really like living in this city.  One of the reasons is Balloon Fiesta!  I know that many locals are SO OVER it and can barely bring themselves to even acknowledge it.  I hear my friends who have lived here forever complain about the traffic it brings, the awful tourists, and how much they really don't care if they don't go again for 10 more years.  Maybe I will be at that point someday, but for now, I'm 4 years in, and I love it more every year.

I dragged the family to an early morning mass ascension.  It. Was. Perfect.  You're welcome.  Now that I have an "in" with one of the balloon pilots (Harriet's former kindergarten teacher, who has become a friend of sorts,) I got the insider info that "Sunday's mass ascension will probably be the best one.  You should aim for that one."  THANK and YOU!  My number of morning ascension attempts that have been thwarted by weather or made miserable by temperatures are getting to be too many to convince others to keep going with me.

Here are the highlights:

This was the ABQ aloft at the school.  As you can see - no balloon attached to the basket.  It was way too windy that morning.  But, Mrs. Johnson was determined to make it fun anyway and let all the kids have a turn climbing in the basket with her.  

Dawn Patrol = they send up about a dozen balloons just before dawn when it is still super dark.  Seeing the balloons glow in the sky is kind of awesome.  Sometimes the pilots fire their burners in sync and you can get a pic like this.  

Dawn is always a little cold in October...

But, if that ABQ sun comes out and the wind dies down, you are golden.

I'm not kidding.  The weather was perfect for balloon take off.  You know it's good when all the special shapes launch without a problem. 

There's Mrs. J's balloon all blown up!

This hummingbird was a cool new addition I hadn't seen before.  

Darth V.  So cool.

Well, anyway, we thoroughly enjoyed mass ascension and then went back for a glow that wasn't ruined by weather either.  David got hit by the car that week, so when the glow came around, he wasn't up for walking or driving.  Good thing I can drive and carry a chair!  No one got out of it.  We took Aunt Christine too, for her birthday, since she's a lucky duck and now that she lives in the 505, her birthday always falls during balloon fiesta.  How cool is it that your birthday balloons are 600 hot air balloons every morning and your birthday candles are fireworks every night for a whole week?!

They rope off the Darth Vader Balloon.  Otherwise, too many kids would trample themselves trying to get to it and the balloon crew wouldn't be able to keep the balloon safe.  Grace was so excited to get close to it.  This is the first year we've been able to track it down and get right up to it.

Angry Birds

Cinderella Carriage

The ascension was kind of teary-eyed for me.  When we had talked about putting Velvet down, we were originally aiming for Balloon Fiesta week because the kids would have more time home from school.  I told David I didn't want to do that because then every time I saw a hot air balloon I would think of Velvet.  He said "what's wrong with that?"  Well, even though she had died 2 weeks earlier, I still thought of Velvet as I saw the glowing balloons rise into the dark morning sky.  I probably will think of her every time I see a balloon.