Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

We made it into Albuquerque in time to meet of friends at the Starr Brothers Brewing Company, although we were about an hour late due to the time change. We met up with: Steve and Laurie Chubb, Dan and Sarah Allen, and Frank and Mary Buscalucci so that we could all drive into the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta together. That way we would be parked next to each other for evening festivities since we all signed up with Fantasy RV Tours so that we would get parking and electricity during the fiesta. Here’s a picture of us driving over to the Rally:

Once we got situated (we had a difficult time as our spot wasn’t very level), we all went to the tent and picked up our badges and itineraries.

We decided to go with Fantasy RV Tours because they had secured parking (with 30 amp electricity, but no water nor sewer), tickets and provided meals so we didn’t really have to worry about anything.

Tom Connor and Alice Clark from Myakka also joined us as they were parked close by. Then we all got together for an evening of appetizers, drinks, and conversations.

We didn’t go too late as we needed to get up the next morning very early to watch the balloons.

5:00am is too early to be getting up, but in order to see the balloons launch you do what you need to do. We (Tom, Katrina and I) had planned on riding our bikes over to the launch field but after getting Katrina’s off the rack we noticed that she had a flat tire. We quickly changed courses and headed to the shuttles where we met up with Alice. After going through the lines to get onto the field, we met up with Tom. Alice and Tom had friends who were launching the Clemson balloon so we headed over to their spot and helped them get off the ground. Check this out:

Apparently it’s a thing for each balloon team to have cards so that spectators can collect and trade them. Here’s the one from the Clemson team:

Check out these photographs of the “dawn patrol” which are the early balloons that rise that let the rest of the pilots know which way the wind is blowing:

Here are some awesome pictures of the balloons flying:

We got to watch about 500 balloons take flight! Balloons, balloons everywhere! It was a real treat as on that day they launched the “special shapes” balloons along with the normal ones. We had to clear the field by 9:00am so that they could have the “Fly In” competition. That’s where balloonists fly down near the field and try to throw markers onto a bullseye or place a hoop over a stick coming out of the ground and then lift back up. It was really hard to understand the competition and we grew weary of watching and headed back to our coaches.

That evening they also hosted the special shape “Glowdeo” where the balloons fired up and flowed in the dark.

That evening our son, Keenan, drove over from Houston to visit us and see the balloons. The next morning we got up early and headed back over to the field to watch the balloons launch. We got to see the “dawn patrol” again:

Once again we were able to help the Clemson balloon go up. Check out Keenan and I filling the balloon:

It’s an amazing view watching these things fill up with air and then ascend! Check these photographs out:

Each balloon has a theme and some of them take it to the extreme. Here’s an example:

The Darth Vader balloon had their crew dressed up as Stormtroopers!

It was great having this experience the balloons with us:

We headed back to the Busse Bus after watching a few of the pilots compete in the Fly In competition. Again, it was hard to understand and see them vie for the championship.

We decided to go to the Anderson Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum

and learned about the history of balloon flight. It was so interesting than I thought it would be seeing the actual gondolas used for Continental and worldwide excursions and records.

The most interesting fact that I learned was that during WWII the Japanese used the Pacific jet stream to float balloons equipped with bombs towards the United States. Read the plaque:

And now you know too.

Afterwards we headed over to Sobremesa Restaurant and Brewery for some beers and appetizers:

Then we headed back to the field to watch the evening Glodeo. Unfortunately it was too windy to fly, but we got some great pictures:

The highlight of this visit was that a friend (Mark Meyers) of a friend (David Wood via Facebook) was an actual pilot with multiple balloons. Mark let us get a picture with him and us in it of the grounded balloon:

I felt a little like the old man in “Up”.

We headed back to the Busse Bus and met up with friends of ours that were traveling through the area:

Kathy Jaroch and her friend, Janet, were on a bit of their own RV adventure. So glad that they were able to spend an hour with us!

That evening Katrina went back to meet a BeautiControl friend, Kay Woodward, who lives in Albuquerque. She had a great time catching up!

We were a bit disappointed the next morning when we learned that the balloons would not be flying again. We decided to go to the Old Town area to check it out.

What a fun place! Keenan and I stopped for a beer while Katrina shopped around. When she finished she joined up with us. Nice little place:

Afterwards we headed to Monte Carlo Steakhouse for dinner which is housed in the back of a liquor store:

Would you eat there? It was ranked highly on TripAdvisor. We had a wonderful sunset on the way in:

We had to wait about an hour before we got a table! While waiting we talked to others at the bar, we decided to eat there and who sits down next to us but the brother and sister of a high school classmate of Katrina’s, Patrick and Christine Reed.

We had some wonderful food and an awesome experience!

The following day Keenan needed to start to head home to Houston. We had a wonderful time with him! Always sad to part ways with family.

We spent the day getting ready to travel and then we attended the farewell dinner for Fantasy RV Tours:

Katrina didn’t think that the food was very good so we headed back to the coach and ordered up some pizza!

The next day we departed the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta with Tom Connor & Alice Clark and Steve & Laurie Chubb. We were going to travel together for the next few stops as we were working our way to a Myakkan gathering in Moab. Never a dull moment!