Albuquerque Hot Air Balloon Fiesta

Getting here was both amazing and frightening!  The ride INTO Denver was the best of the entire trip.  It was over I-70E going through the tony ski towns of Aspen and Vail and over the mountains which were in full fall color!  It was really hard to pay attention to the road amidst such outrageous color.  The drive OUT of Denver was a nightmare!  The day I left was extremely windy and incresased as I travelled south, to where there were 60mph wind gusts!  These gusts just wrenched the steering wheel from my hands and Cassie was nuts with the wind noise inside the rig!  I finally let her sit on my lap as I drove and held her and talked to her as she seemed like she was headed for a heart attack!  I-25 South is a desolate stretch of road and I pushed through to the Walmart at Trinidad and spent the night there.  Didn't feel real good that day.

Now, we are parked on a piece of asphalt at the end of a row, thanks to me schmoozing the parking volunteer.   As you can see in the pic, most RV's are parked on dirt.  The Sandia Mountain Peak is in the background.

Additionally, I am adjacent to the water & electric area and have water available to me!  The weather is mild enough to keep the RV open.  Except the mornings when it is very ccccccold!

The first morning of the Mass Hot Air Balloon Ascension was exciting; the sun peeked in and out and only when the sun was out were the balloons spectacular looking.

One of my fellow RV'ers took this pic of me having my coffee in my bathrobe while watching the dawn ascension at 7am...

I took this pic of Cassie in her stroller.  She was a bit nervous when the balloons came close and make the propane burning sound...  Fortunately, my friend Anne in Denver  told me about an herbal product called Rescue Remedy which I bought and gave to Cassie.  It is a "natural" tranquilizer and worked very well to keep her calm.  I am using it for the nightly fireworks; so far it has kept her from going bonkers.

This one came right over us.  We were positioned between two landing fields.

I am dedicating this photo to Skate, my friend who is right now in the hospital having surgery to replace BOTH knees!  She works for the Bonita Bee, transporting visitors back and forth to the airport.  The little female bee is wearing the pink ribbon for breast cancer.

In addition to the bees, I appreciated the Humpty Dumpty Balloon and the Witch Balloon but thought is best not to "dedicate" the balloons to anyone.

Last night, there was a Balloon Glow scheduled but it was cancelled due to high winds.  There is another one scheduled for tonight so I'll try again.  In the meantime, I got a pretty photo of the moon over the Sandia Mtn Peak.  A  Balloon Chase Crew is in the foreground.







I finally signed up for the 5 day internet "package" so my Magic Jack is plugged in.  The days can be a little long here, as all of the events are early or late in the day, so feel free to give me a buzz!  772-882-6859