Left home Friday and drove 454 miles to attend the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, NM. Our reservations/rv space didn't include electricity, sewer, or water....so we were boondocking it with two adults, four children and three dogs, in a 27 foot TT.
If you haven't attended the Balloon Fiesta, you need to add it to your bucket list! Friday we attended the Special Shape Glowdeo and the AfterGlow Fireworks Show. Saturday the Dawn Patrol passed over the campground followed by the Mass Ascension. There were other events at the launch field too, the Echo Regional Chainsaw Carving Competition, Balloon Pin Trading, a lot of vendors, etc. Saturday evening included the Night Magic Glow and another Fireworks Show. The Farwell Mass Ascension was held @ 7:00 AM Sunday morning and it was truly awesome!
We watched the Farwell Mass Ascension from the campgrounds and I am glad we did. We were sitting in our lounge chairs taking photos of all of the balloons and I noticed several of the balloons seemed to be descending instead of ascending. I realized they were not going to clear the power lines at the back side of the campground and the pilot must have realized this too because they decided to land/crash inside the rv park. The first balloon to come down landed hard, it hit a concrete pad, bounced and came to rest within a few feet of a TT at the back of the park. The second one came within 3 feet of hitting the rooftop a/c on the motorhome next to us! The pilot of the balloon was screaming for everyone to grab/catch the balloon and I did manage to grab two of the handles on the bottom of the basket, felt like my arm was going to be jerked out of it's socket. Several other people ran to help and we got the balloon stopped and we held on to it until the balloon chasers arrived to take over. Boy, we had a great time!!!
On our return trip we stopped at the Meteor Crater RV Park near Winslow, AZ and we spent a day touring the Meteor Crater. We are back home now but I sure can't wait to go fulltime rving.
janieD said
09:59 AM Oct 14, 2010
This was already on my bucket list but wow now I want to go sooner!
rjenkins said
11:53 AM Oct 14, 2010
always wanted to do this. you said you had a reservation. how was this acquired? was it an actual campground or just land where the festival promotors set it aside for rv's?
janni said
12:33 PM Oct 14, 2010
Me too, I have to see this! Thank you for sharing the pictures. They are awesome!
GiniaJ said
12:36 PM Oct 14, 2010
How cool! Enjoyed the photos (what really unique balloons) and also your story about the misdirected balloons. That must have been frightening and exciting at the same time. I assume nobody was injured?
Glad you got to go and had such a great time.
two travelers said
06:49 PM Oct 14, 2010
Is near the top of our list when we hit the road. patti
Weaverworks said
07:36 PM Oct 14, 2010
Hi Mark & Nancy.
Wasn't the Balloon Fiesta GREAT!
We too were in Albuquerque for the Balloon Fiesta. We volunteered for the event. We worked in the Chase Crew tower. Read all about it in our Blog and see the pictures.
www.where's weaver.blogspot.com
Paul
-- Edited by Weaverworks on Thursday 14th of October 2010 08:27:46 PM
DorisandDave said
07:50 PM Oct 14, 2010
We were down there from 1 Oct and just returned 12 Oct. While we were working at remote areas, we were able to see the dawn patrol and Mass Acession every morning. We were off Wednesday morning and went down to the park. Almost 300 pictures later we were on our way back to the rv. We did not make it to any of the evening sessions. The pictures are fantastic and very enjoyable to look at but the memories we have of attending and being on the lauch field are something we will never forget. We recommend that you place it high on your list of things to see.
-- Edited by DorisandDave on Thursday 14th of October 2010 07:52:12 PM
azrving said
08:27 PM Oct 14, 2010
rjenkins wrote:
always wanted to do this. you said you had a reservation. how was this acquired? was it an actual campground or just land where the festival promotors set it aside for rv's?
We made our reservations online @ http://balloonfiesta.com/, cost for our site was $25.00 per night with no hookups. There are sites closer to the launch field (Presidential Campground) that have great views and hookups but more expensive too. I think the area we were in was just a big parking lot converted into rv sites. Not real impressed with the campground but the balloon activities made it worth it.
azrving said
08:30 PM Oct 14, 2010
GiniaJ wrote:
How cool! Enjoyed the photos (what really unique balloons) and also your story about the misdirected balloons. That must have been frightening and exciting at the same time. I assume nobody was injured?
Glad you got to go and had such a great time.
Nobody was injured! It was very exciting, now I can scratch catching a hot air balloon off of my bucket list too. lol
Pinon said
10:09 PM Oct 14, 2010
How wild! I would love to catch a balloon. I live near ABQ and work in one of the hospitals there. Several years ago I was working a night shift (I'm a labor and delivery nurse) and my patient was having a horrible experience. Hours and hours of pain, epidural didn't work, getting infected, fear b/c the baby wasn't doing well - just a horrible birthing experience for this woman. Finally had a c-section which she was really upset about. We brought her back from the OR into a 5th floor recovery room with a huge window of downtown ABQ (about 6 am.) I handed her the baby and a stork shaped hot air balloon drifted right past the window at the same time. It was an amazing moment. We all stopped and stared. Like a blessing to the end of this horrible trial, and a sign she had prevailed. Pinon
Left home Friday and drove 454 miles to attend the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, NM. Our reservations/rv space didn't include electricity, sewer, or water....so we were boondocking it with two adults, four children and three dogs, in a 27 foot TT.
I realized they were not going to clear the power lines at the back side of the campground and the pilot must have realized this too because they decided to land/crash inside the rv park. The first balloon to come down landed hard, it hit a concrete pad, bounced and came to rest within a few feet of a TT at the back of the park. The second one came within 3 feet of hitting the rooftop a/c on the motorhome next to us! The pilot of the balloon was screaming for everyone to grab/catch the balloon and I did manage to grab two of the handles on the bottom of the basket, felt like my arm was going to be jerked out of it's socket. Several other people ran to help and we got the balloon stopped and we held on to it until the balloon chasers arrived to take over. Boy, we had a great time!!!
If you haven't attended the Balloon Fiesta, you need to add it to your bucket list! Friday we attended the Special Shape Glowdeo and the AfterGlow Fireworks Show. Saturday the Dawn Patrol passed over the campground followed by the Mass Ascension. There were other events at the launch field too, the Echo Regional Chainsaw Carving Competition, Balloon Pin Trading, a lot of vendors, etc. Saturday evening included the Night Magic Glow and another Fireworks Show. The Farwell Mass Ascension was held @ 7:00 AM Sunday morning and it was truly awesome!
We watched the Farwell Mass Ascension from the campgrounds and I am glad we did. We were sitting in our lounge chairs taking photos of all of the balloons and I noticed several of the balloons seemed to be descending instead of ascending.
On our return trip we stopped at the Meteor Crater RV Park near Winslow, AZ and we spent a day touring the Meteor Crater. We are back home now but I sure can't wait to go fulltime rving.
Wasn't the Balloon Fiesta GREAT!
We too were in Albuquerque for the Balloon Fiesta. We volunteered for the event. We worked in the Chase Crew tower. Read all about it in our Blog and see the pictures.
www.where's weaver.blogspot.com
Paul
-- Edited by Weaverworks on Thursday 14th of October 2010 08:27:46 PM
-- Edited by DorisandDave on Thursday 14th of October 2010 07:52:12 PM
We made our reservations online @ http://balloonfiesta.com/, cost for our site was $25.00 per night with no hookups. There are sites closer to the launch field (Presidential Campground) that have great views and hookups but more expensive too. I think the area we were in was just a big parking lot converted into rv sites. Not real impressed with the campground but the balloon activities made it worth it.
I live near ABQ and work in one of the hospitals there. Several years ago I was working a night shift (I'm a labor and delivery nurse) and my patient was having a horrible experience. Hours and hours of pain, epidural didn't work, getting infected, fear b/c the baby wasn't doing well - just a horrible birthing experience for this woman. Finally had a c-section which she was really upset about. We brought her back from the OR into a 5th floor recovery room with a huge window of downtown ABQ (about 6 am.) I handed her the baby and a stork shaped hot air balloon drifted right past the window at the same time. It was an amazing moment. We all stopped and stared. Like a blessing to the end of this horrible trial, and a sign she had prevailed.
Pinon