Balloon Fiesta!

This past week the International Balloon Fiesta has been going on in Albuquerque! Over 700 hot air balloons fly every morning, and there are mid-day and night balloon events too (they have a pretty cool night-glow where they blow up all of the balloons on the field for everyone to walk around and see).  It is hard to understand how cool it all is without seeing it first hand.  Before we went the the mass ascension (where all of the balloons fly in the morning), I didn't understand what the big deal was, but it is incredibly gorgeous to watch them all float in the sky.  Supposedly, it is the most photographed event in the world, and it is cool because you are actually allowed out on the field to watch from where the balloons are taking off.

John and I went on the first day and had to wake up at 4 am! It felt like Black Friday! It was a good thing we woke up as early as we did because the parking lot we pre-bought a pass for was completely full shortly after we got there.  Although we only went to Balloon Fiesta one of the days, John watched the balloons every morning from his office window... I am sure it makes for a productive work day! :)

Headed to Balloon Fiesta bright and early

The sun isn't up yet, but the balloons are getting blown up!

Sun starting to rise over the Sandia Mountains and the first balloons of the morning getting ready to go

Lift off!

Incredibly blue morning sky

Not even a portion of the balloons

 

 

 

 

Watching the balloons from the field

Some of the balloons from the parking lot while we were leaving