Up, Up, and Away

We headed to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta this past weekend - (one of the things on my "List of Things to Do before We Leave the Southwest").

Click here for photos from the weekend.

We expected it to be typically Southwest sunny and warm. Instead, we were sad to find it was cold, windy, and rainy. But we were still hopeful and set our alarm for 4:15am Saturday morning.

Saturday morning came fast. We dug through our bags of shorts and short-sleeved shirts and piled on as many layers as we could fine. It was pitch-black outside as we approached Balloon Fiesta park. (Who knew there was a whole park dedicated to ballooning?) We found our way down to the park. It was filled with vendors selling warm food. First stop, hot chocolate. Then we noticed flames coming from the field. In our popsicle state, we were drawn to the possibility of warmth, so we headed straight for the flames. As we got closer, we realized the flames were coming from the burners in the balloon baskets. "How cool" everyone thought...everyone except J-man. He didn't want to get anywhere close to the fire. You see, last week he was visited at school by firemen and I think they throughly scared him when it comes to fire. "I want to go back to the hotel" was his mantra for the morning. We hung back a little and as we did, we figured out that flames meant the balloons were going to inflate. And the best part - we were standing right in the middle of them all. In the chilly darkness, we watched 6 or 7 balloons inflate and "glow". It was magical. But then, the balloons started deflating. At this point, our spirits fell. There was talk that the winds were just too fast for balloons to lift-off. We decided that we needed to thaw out, so we headed to the car. Now, to get to our car, you had to walk up a huge hill. While Tri-Guy and I thought about how warm we could get by walking up the hill, Supergirl and J-man had other ideas. They had spotted golf-carts riding up and down the hill - each filled with passengers. "We want to get on THAT ride," they both said. So we did, and it turned out to be one of the highlights of the weekend. From their giggles, you would have thought they were on a ride at Disneyland.
Fifteen minutes (and about 40 degrees) later, as we all were getting snuggly warm in the car, Tri-Guy decided to check things out down on the field. He came back to report that balloons were inflating on the field. We quickly piled on all of our layers and headed back down to the field (yes, on the golf cart again!) We were excited to watch over 60 balloons start inflating and lifting off around us. You were so close, you could actually touch the balloons! It was incredible!! About 30 minutes into the launch, they had to stop the rest of the balloons from going up because lightening was reported in the area. One spectator actually asked a pilot, "What happens when lightening hits a balloon?" The pilot responded, "Umm...it's not pretty."
With the balloons done, we went back to the car (yes, again in the cart) and headed out to breakfast. We were all enjoying our wonderfully warm meal at IHOP when I accidentally spilled all of my juice right in J-man's lap. Now there was no choice but to go back to the hotel. Of course, the kids were happy with this development. We cleaned up at the hotel and then spent the afternoon shopping in our favorite stores - REI and Fleet Feet. Supergirl and I even managed to convince everyone to take a quick break at our favorite haunt - Keva Juice. And Supergirl was even more joyful when we ate dinner at her favorite restaurant - TGI Fridays.
In the evening, we headed back to the balloon park with even more layers piled on (yes, in the cart). It was windy again and we didn't know what we would get to see. Because there was too much wind, they couldn't do the balloon glow. We were disappointed not to see it. Instead, they did a candle glow, which means they just had the balloon baskets on the field shooting up fire. It was cool, but not as interesting without the balloons. We decided to get back to our warm car to watch the final fireworks. "Why do they call them fireworks?" asked J-man? "I know why "fire", but why "works"?" "Good question," we all thought. "Oh, I know why," J-man quickly added. "Because they work! I am very smart. Look at my muscles!" Umm, what do you say to that? The fireworks were great and even better watched from a cozy car.
Sunday we woke up to rain, but we decided to brave the weather. We got to the park and hung out in the car for a little while. Then we headed down to the field (yes, in the cart). We saw one balloon inflated and glowing. That gave us hope. The field remained pretty empty while it was dark. As the sun rose, we saw some brave balloons inflating. Then they started lifting off around us. Over 100 balloons took off and while they did, the skies cleared and the sun came out. It was spectacular. We definitely want to come back when the weather is better.
We headed home soon after the balloon liftoff. Somewhere north of Las Cruces, it started to rain...hard rain. I mentioned that it looked like the ground was turning white. About that time, the road turned from dry to a slushy mess. There was about 1/2 inch of hail covering the road. It was freaky! Then, after about a mile, it was gone and the sky was blue.
We enjoyed our trip to Albuquerque and hope to visit there again next year.