Special Shapes Day at Balloon Fiesta

Today was our favorite day to attend the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta since it was special shapes day.  These balloons are quite large and are very interesting.  They don't fly as well due to the appendages and how large they are.  Some are over 120ft tall when inflated.  It is always amazing to see what they can come up with on these balloons.  

The Fiesta actually pays the owners of these balloons to participate in the Fiesta, while the standard balloons have an entrance fee.  I did learn that they are limiting the number of balloons the past few years since the number of open space to land them has been shrinking due to the expansion of the Albuquerque area.  There are a couple Indian reservations in the area and they are off limits for the balloons to land.  It always struck me odd that they treat the balloonists that way since the Fiesta brings in a huge amount of money into the Indian Casinos which they all share in.

We got there early for the mass ascension and almost froze to death.  It wasn't that cold but there was a steady wind out of the north that swept down the field.  I grabbed a spot on a picnic bench and rested my sore knees, but still was able to get some great photos.  Gerry walked around and came with even better photos and I have combined the two groups.   In addition, I am using Picasa to reduce the size of the photos.  Let me know if you think the quality is too low.

 After the Fiesta we stopped at a local restaurant for breakfast and then hit the wineries.  The first winery was a small one in Placitas was quite eclectic.  The wines are fruit based and I didn't care for any of them.  Judy & Herb bought a bottle that they liked and we hit the road for the next one.  There were three wineries open in the area and we hit all of them.  

Most of the grapes for the local wineries come from the Deming, NM area since they do have freezes around here.  Two years ago they lost the grape crop due to cold weather in the Albuquerque area.

We had an early dinner at the El Pinto restaurant and enjoyed the food very much.  They serve huge portions and two doggy bags came home with us.  El Pinto is a huge restaurant with indoor and outdoor seating.  We chose to eat outdoors on the patio since it was such a nice day and it was early.

After dinner we went to the Sandia Casino so Judy & Herb could get their free plays on the slots.  When all was said and done, they came out $21 ahead playing with their money.  Gerry won $44 to add to her savings and we had to drag her out of there kicking and screaming.  Only a promise of bringing her back again allowed us to get her to leave.  No, she doesn't have an addiction.

Our friends Gloria & Doug are back in the campground after spending four days at the Cummins repair center.  They finally completed all the tasks that needed to be done and will be here until Monday.  Hopefully they will be able to get down to the Fiesta grounds on Saturday morning and see the mass ascension.  Welcome back guys.

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta - Saturday

Doug & Gloria got together last night with Gerry and me and decided to go to the balloon fiesta today.  That meant getting up at 4:30AM and leaving for the field around 5:00AM.  Did I say that I don't do mornings that well?  We made good time getting to fiesta field and had to wait a while to enter the parking lot.  It moved very well considering about 100,000 people were about to enter the area.

 It was windy on the field and I was having serious doubts whether or not they would have the mass ascension.  We waited from 5:30AM to 7:30AM for the balloons to be filled and lift off.  Finally they announced it was too windy and dangerous for lift off and they cancelled the morning session.  Of course they encouraged us to visit the many vendors and get first choice on all the wonderful items on sale.  Yah, right!

Gerry, Gloria & Doug walked along to check out a number of vendors and didn't see anything of interest to them and returned to the area where I was guarding a bench.  Fine job on my part if I do say so.  As you can tell by how they are dressed it was cold out there this morning with the breeze blowing so hard.  

I did get a nice shot of the Balloon Museum in the parking lot behind the field.  The museum is dedicated to hot air and gas balloons and was built about 5 years ago.

We went to Costco to pick up a few things and then over to Old Town in Albuquerque and I was surprised to see the crowds there in the square.  It was jam packed with people, cars and tents.  They had the street in front of the church blocked off and there were numerous vendor tents in the area.  There were women dancers in Mexican costumes on the stage in the center of the square along a band playing traditional music. 

We left there and went home via old Rt 66 (Central Ave) in Albuquerque and enjoyed seeing the improvements they have made in that area.  A number of old buildings have been restored back to their original glory and more restoration seems to be in process.  They have painted a number of huge murals on the side of buildings and this was one of the nicer ones.  I'm not sure what the message was regarding the mural but it was impressive.

By this time we were all tired out and ready for a nap and returned to our motor homes.  I watched some football and missed a number of plays due to dozing off, but didn't really get much sleep.  I should sleep very well this night.

Our good friend Hanne from Denmark called us using her computer to wish us a belated happy birthday.  It was great talking to her and catching up on what she has been up to lately.  She has a trip to the Caribbean in November and we tried to talk her into coming out to Tucson and stay with us for a while.  We always enjoy hearing from her and wish she could visit in the U.S. more often.

It looks like more wind in the morning so we are planning on taking a day trip to Sante Fe for a look see up there.  We've been there before and want to check out an old church that was closed the last time we were there.

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

We had to get up and head down the road today from Santa Rosa to Albuquerque and the balloon fiesta.  The official start is Saturday morning and we plan on leaving the campground for the fiesta around 5AM.  Yes, that is right.  5AM   The Dawn Patrol is scheduled for 5:45AM and we want to make sure we get there before the traffic entering the grounds is backed up.  We will be coming in from the north so we should miss the traffic heading out from Alb.  It's a mess coming in from the south.

We had a relatively easy drive today except for the wind pounding us from the southwest at around 15-20 mph.  I had to slow down because it was blowing so hard and I don't like to drive with gusts hitting the side of the unit.  Slowing down helps a lot.

We got to Alb around 2:30PM and the traffic on I-25 north was very heavy.  It was moving fairly well so that was a good thing.  Later on our friends Gloria & Doug came through the area and it was stop and go for a while.  It's all in the timing. 

We had reserved a site at the campground that was ideal for us, but they switched us to another site and it is shorter and very unlevel.  We tried to get the manager to move us to another site, but he went a little ballistic on us and lost it.  Gerry and he had a nice conversation and finally he said he could bring some blocks to help level us out.  After a few tries we got the MH level enough, but not great.  What a disappointment this turned out to be.  Also, the power level is down around 112 volts instead of 120.  This should be an interesting 10 days.

Gloria & Doug joined us at the Range Cafe in Bernalillo for dinner and we all enjoyed our meals.  Taco salads for the boys and crab cakes for the girls.  The restaurant was busy as usual, but we got in a little early and were seated within 10 minutes.  The service was good and we had a nice time catching up on what's been going on in our lives since we last saw them.  They are camped right across from us in a prime spot and haven't taken any pity on our plight.  LOL

They are having some mechanical problems with their MH and have to take it in next week to have the repairs made.  Hopefully, it will be quick and they can still enjoy their 10 days here.