Ted and I planned our entire Southwest trip around our Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta ticket dates. We had evening tickets tonight for the “special shapes” Balloon Glow. Our hotel is close enough to walk to the Fiesta and, given how many shuttles were lined up in the traffic and the number of intersections at which police were needed to direct backed-up traffic, I think we easily beat the shuttle time by walking.
Unfortunately, as we were walking to the Fiesta under a sunny sky, a single cloud started to sprinkle on us.
Those are raindrops, not snowflakes, dotting the photo. You can see the approaching shower in the background.
We stood under a tree for the 5-minute shower and saw this beautiful double rainbow ahead of the rain.
A few minutes after we arrived on the Fiesta grounds, we had another 5-minute shower and another double rainbow. (The double part is faint–look for it.)
An hour later, we had a picture-postcard New Mexico sunset over the balloon field.
I have no idea how many food and souvenir booths were set up at the Fiesta, but I’d guess well over 100. The crowd was so thick, it was sometimes hard to make forward progress.
Our tickets included a New Mexico dinner and seats in a great viewing area for the fireworks tonight and for the balloon launch tomorrow morning.
Little Anita’s of ABQ catered the meal–tacos, refried beans, nachos, and other Southwest favorites.
Here’s the eating/viewing area.
After dinner, we walked among all the balloons and watched the crews inflate them. Just as most of the balloons reached nearly full inflation, the wind picked up and put a damper (no pun on the showers) on the balloon glow portion of the evening.
This crew just unloaded. The balloon is in the duffel bag on the blue tarp. Can you believe it folds up that small??!!
I’m not sure what this balloon was going to look like when it was upright.
Here are Ted and I, surrounded by balloons.
I thought this one was cute. The “glow” part of the evening is just beginning.
When the wind picked up, the crews couldn’t hold the balloons in place, so they turned off the fans and the burners. In less than 60 seconds, the entire field was deflated. After having so many huge balloons around us for over an hour, the landscape suddenly looked very flat.
The laser light show was followed by the fireworks, and then everyone went home. The morning activities begin at 5:45 am. (Yawn.)