Day 10 – Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta – Mass Ascension

We got up at 4:30 am to catch a shuttle at 5:00 to the Balloon launch site.  We arrived and found that we were one of the earliest cars in the parking lot and quickly moved to a shuttle.  We are all together, but once at the festival grounds, we'll probably split up.

We are about 15 miles to where the balloons will launch.  It was dark when we get there and before the regular balloons launch, there are some balloons that launch in the dark and then wait until there is enough light to land.  The night launch balloons all in a line ready to launch and are lighting up the night.

The balloons from the dark morning ascension have lights hanging down from the baskets, almost like landing lights.  All of the balloons were firing their burners at the same time when I took this picture.

With the sky lightening, the other balloons begin the launch process.  Oh my!  There are over 200 balloons here.   With some specialty balloons mixed in with the regular balloons, this is an awesome sight.  Here you can see a couple balloons ready, one behind the flame has the head of a bison.

Balloons are beginning to launch.  You can see some balloons are already up in the air while others are still lying down still in the inflation process.  In the bottom right you can see the double bison head balloon.

There are specialty balloons also in the mix and this one is beginning the process to inflate the envelope.

More and more balloons are beginning to lift off and others are beginning to inflate.

The sun is now up and we have good views of the balloons.

Some of the balloons ended up directly overhead.  They are beginning to have many balloons in the sky.  We can even see a couple of balloons with "Farmers" on the envelope.

Balloons are beginning to fill the sky.  Even an ice cream cone balloon can be seen while back on the ground more balloons are being filled.

Here is the inside of one of the balloons from the top of the envelope looking back to the basket.  Looks like a merry-go-round.

When pigs fly; yea right.  Wonder if this is an advertisement for a BBQ place?  Today is mostly for regular envelopes, but I guess some of the special shapes still go up.

Here is the merry-go-round balloon filled along with an elephant standing on its front legs and the flying pig.

Check out the clock just lifting off of the ground.  Hey, its 19 minutes after 8; must be time for breakfast.

Here’s the inside of one of the balloons.  The sun is up and bright so you can see the shadow of people on the inside of the balloon.

Look at all of the balloons.  Other than the ice cream balloon, I don’t see any other special shapes.

I see shadows on the inside of a balloon.

A butterfly is getting ready to soar.  When the balloons are up, they go down range, then rise high into the sky where the winds would reverse their direction and return to just beyond the launch site.  They would then drop back down and follow the process over again.  That is why we are seeing some of the balloons again.

A zebra balloon can be seen in amongst the other balloons.

Elvis is in the sky!  Who loves you baby?

Now we are getting different balloons in the picture and you can see 4 different specialty balloons in flight.

If you can believe it, even more balloons.

Not sure what this balloon was, but she looks like a happy elf.

It looks like the butterfly is going down for the count while a couple of bees are inflating.  Just to the right is “spider pig”.

A close up of the Darth Vader balloon.

Nearly at the end of the balloon flights, this Zebra balloon just snuck by.

A winking cat and I don’t know what that other thing is. 

Put your left hand up. 

Look at everything going on here; a tourist penguin, space man, tweedy bird, and Darth Vader.

Here a panda bear balloon is poking its head out from behind a frog.

As we were leaving the field, we saw the lion king.  As you can see it is much later in the morning and most of the balloons are gone.  Some like the lion king will not fly but are only inflated for show. 

I should point out that the field for the balloon launch was about 4 football fields in size.  You could walk around the balloons if you wanted or stay on the sidelines.  This place is massive and you could be in the middle of the field and look all around at the balloons.  At one point during the morning, there must have been over 100 balloons in the air.

Tomorrow we plan on going to going to Old Town Albuquerque with all of the other people that are on the RV trip with us.  

Day 9 – Heading to Albuquerque and Sandia Peak

We left Santa Fe the morning of Oct 6th and headed to Albuquerque for the Balloon Fiesta.  After checking into the Enchanted Trails RV Park we found Rick and Shirley Hood, and others with us to see the balloons, are already situated in the camp site.  

After we set up the motor home, Shirley, Rick, Carmen and I drove rte 536 to the top of Sandia Crest.  Yes, you can drive to the top of the mountain or take the Sandia Peak Tramway.  On our drive up the road, we saw seven deer in three different groups and was able to get at least one picture.

At 10,650+ feet, the temperature at the top was about 50 degrees with a 25 mph wind.  It was very cold and we did not eat our picnic dinner we brought until we were back in the warm motor home.  We took a picture of the field where balloons will lift off tomorrow.  You can see the oblong field in the center about one-third of the way up from the bottom, just above I-25.

Albuquerque in the valley between Sandia Peak and the range on the other side of the valley and Mt. Taylor.

Looking south, you can see the rim trail on the left heading towards Sandia Peak Tramway which is just around the bend.

Another view of Albuquerque, looking west.  We are in a campground somewhere around the middle of the picture.

Looking south along the range ridge and Meadow Lake.  

Since it is pretty cold out, we head back to the campground.  The temperature is a reminder of what tomorrow morning will be like.  We'll dress appropriately.

Day 8 - Jemez Trail and Santa Fe

Today we are will drive along the Jemez Trail and will finish the day in Santa Fe.  Along the road, the overpasses are adorned with native art. 

On our way to our first stop we pass countryside that is very rugged and could be part of any western movie. 

We started, after getting on route 4 heading to Las Alamos, coming to more buttes and some stark formations. 

We stopped just outside of the town of White Rock to visit the White Rock Canyon and overlook.  As with most of the area, the views are quite impressive.  That is the Rio Grande river cutting through the canyon.

While on the Canyon rim trail, Carmen was able to take a picture of cactus that look like stick men. 

Speaking of Stick men, here I am waving to the camera.  I’m usually on the other side of the camera.  

Ah ha!  I finally get picture of an animal for the blog, even if is is a member of the squirrel family.  Haven't seen a lizard yet, but we will be in the desert area soon, so I'm optimistic. 

Continuing along the Jemez Trail we stopped at the Valles Caldera, an extinct volcano that has collapsed.  You can see the grass lands on the floor of the caldera. 

Another view of the Caldera.  When I got back to the car, I looked at the elevation we were at and found it to read 8742 feet.

Across the road from the caldera was this gorgeous stand of Aspens in their fall finery. 

While still on route 4 outside of Las Alamos, we stopped at Jemez Falls.  Hiking a quarter-mile trail to the falls at 8700 feet for a couple of people who now live at 11 feet above sea level is not difficult since it was a good trail.  But the hike back up was not an easy task.  But we get to the falls without incident and was able to get a picture of the Jemez Falls.  I would have had to do some mountain climbing to get the better position of the falls, but this picture will do. 

Here’s Carmen on the hike back to the car.  As you can see, the temperature has been getting warmer.

Besides animals, I haven’t added any flowers to the blog yet, so I’ll just fix that right now.  Lets see, the yellow ones will do. 

Further, along rte 4 just before reaching the town of Jemez Springs, we stopped at the Soda Dam.  The dam, created by the years of mineral deposits, has passages throughout the inside of the mineral dam.  Some people were walking up and into the formation.  The falls is in the bottom right of the picture where all the people are.

The water at the falls is warm, as the source is from a hot spring.  It comes through a hole in the mineral wall formation.

Heading back to Santa Fe, we pass this butte; you can see the walls are quite steep.

We continued on rte 4 until we reached rte 550 then turned south.  Along the way I saw this cottonwood tree and thought it had a nice shape.  

Following rte 550 we then turned north on I-25 heading back to Santa Fe.  Later back in Santa Fe, we stopped in the plaza in old town.  The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi is still in use after many years. 

At the Palace of the Governors; there were a number of Indians artisans selling jewelry.  I know you are wondering to yourself and of course, Carmen bought some of the turquoise jewelry.

As we begin to leave to go back to the motor home, I see this motorcycle or should I say a carcycle.