Up, Up and Away!

The summer that I started my Masters degree in Greeley, Colorado, I lived on the third floor of a campus dorm.  The day I moved in I heard a “wooshing” noise that registered as “hmm… that sounds like a dragon breathing”.  I pulled back the drapes to see the brightly-hued envelope of a hot air balloon dancing by.

Hot air balloons have fascinated both old and young

Hot air balloons have captured mankind's imagination for centuries, since Leonardo de Vinci first envisioned a “lighter than air flying machine”.  The first practical hot air balloon, a Montgolfier¹ type, made its public appearance in 1783. The passengers on that flight were a duck, a rooster and a sheep.  On November 21, 1783, the first human aeronauts, Jean Francois Pilatre de Rozier and his friend the Marquis D'Arlandes, took off in their hot air balloon and landed safely 25 minutes later.  Since that time, hot air balloons have enthralled mankind on a scientific level, but also on a creative level that allows his fantasies to come to life.

The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta takes place every October and is a showcase for both scientific and creative aspects of hot air ballooning.  The excitement is shared by thousands of onlookers.  From the inception of the Balloon Fiesta in 1972 with 13 balloons taking off from a shopping mall, to today's event that witnesses over 600 balloons ascending from a 70-acre launch field (the equivalent of 54 football fields put together) the Balloon Fiesta thrills as many as 100,000 visitors a day during the week-long extravaganza.


This balloon is sponsored by the Fiesta Committee.  Here, it participates in the evening Balloon Glow

The Good Neighbor Pharmacy balloon

The air is heated up and the balloon inflated just as the sun comes up in Albequerque

Wells Fargo Bank had at least three balloons at the Fiesta - these two
plus one in the shape of a stagecoach

Brightly-colored logoed "envelopes" are instantly recognizable, even from a distance
 

 The 365-acre Balloon Fiesta Park, home to the Anderson-Abruzzo Albuquerque International Balloon Museum with its façade in the shape of a hot air balloon, was custom-designed to host the world’s largest ballooning event.   Food and merchandise vendors border the fields; live music and evening fireworks add to the fun.  The happy carnival-like atmosphere comes alive each morning by 4:30 AM and lasts until after dawn.  It re-energizes in the early evening until the last fireworks close the day.  What is amazing about this event is the fact that you are much more than just an observer.  Visitors become participants as they are allowed to walk in and among the hot air balloons during the static glows as well as during preparation, inflation and lift-off of the Dawn Patrol and  Mass Ascension which takes place each morning, weather permitting.  The magic comes alive at night when the burners are fired up and the balloons, tethered to the ground, glow like Christmas ornaments.  The Balloon Glow takes place on the first Saturday night of the Fiesta; the Night Magic Glow is held on the second Saturday night; and the “Glowdeo”  --  a “special shape” balloon static glow, takes place on Thursday and Friday nights.  During the mass ascension 500 or more balloons take off over a two hour period.  It's a beautiful and thrilling sight.  The color, the noise, the wonder and the sheer number of balloons make for a joyful event.

Balloons fill the sky on the final morning of the Fiesta

The prevailing winds brought them right over the top of our campground,
with some even landing among the RVs

This unique balloon is from....where else?  Roswell, New Mexico,
the alien capital of the United States

We loved this balloon with the silhouette of a safari on the envelope

 

A lot of businesses and commercial enterprises sponsor balloons, both at the Fiesta and elsewhere.
In many cases, the business pays for the "envelope" but the pilot owns the basket and the burner.

A favorite event for many is the “Special Shape Rodeo”, which started in 1989. Some favorites return every year, but new ones make their debut each season.

Little Bee Lilly (red shoes) and Little Bee Joey (blue shoes)  "hold hands" while taking off and flying.
The hands are held together with hook-&-loop tape, and are pulled apart just before landing

Airebelle, the Flying Cow, sponsored by Creamland Dairy

Spider Pig during the evening glow.  Spider Pig was first introduced
as a super-hero in an episode of The Simpsons

Humpty Dumpty thrills the crowd of on-lookers

Simba, from The Lion King

Noah's Ark, looking up into the envelope.  The animals, topside, can be seen looking over
the rail from the deck of the Ark.  Compare the size of this balloon with the one next to it.

 Super FMG landed in the RV campground after a short flight on Sunday morning

Mister Z, the zebra from Madagascar

Smokey was a crowd favorite

It is great fun to watch or even be a part of a chase team.  Mike and I have each had the amazing experience of being a passenger.  Mike first flew with his friend Roy, who is a professional balloon pilot.  Mike also had the opportunity to fly in a hot air balloon over the Masai Mara in Africa.  My opportunity to perch in a gondola was in India during the Pushkar Camel Festival.  The visual perspective from the hot air balloon basket was one of watching a realistic human scale scene become a study in miniature -reality became a dollhouse scene.  The other aspect that was most noticeable to me was the silence aloft.  It wasn't just quiet but totally silent – akin to the depth of darkness one experiences when the lights are turned out in a cave.

 

The only thing the broke the silence was the “wooshing” of the dragon breathing.  

 

Mike in the gondola of a balloon over the Masai Mara in Africa, 2008.  The second
balloon that flew part of our group that morning is in the background

Mike's balloon casts a shadow on the Masai Mara plain.  We were in Kenya, but
Tanzania is just over the horizon, and the pilot could not cross into their air space.

This balloon, being inflated at the Pushkar Camel Festival in India,
carried Yvonne and others over the thousands of camels at the festival

 

The Pushkar Camel Festival site from the air

Higher and higher, as the people and tents get smaller and smaller.  If you look very
closely, the brown spots that you see are some of the thousands of camels for sale or trade.

 

We close with the “Balloonist’s Prayer”

(reprinted from the Balloon Fiesta’s website)     

May the winds welcome you with softness;
May the sun bless you with its warm hands.
May you fly so high and so well that God
joins you in laughter and sets you gently
back into the loving arms of Mother Earth.

 

The aptly-named Freedom Flight V balloon remembers all of America's POWs and MIAs 

 

 

All across this great country of ours, and now in the skies above her, we continue to find great adventure and great Road Stories.

 

 

 

One easy way to have convenient access to the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is to reserve an RV space adjacent to the Balloon Park.  Free shuttle buses run from the RV campground to the balloon field.  Reserve early - space is limited and always sells out.  The 2014 Albuquerque Balloon Festival will be held October 4-12, 2014.  Admission to the park and launch field is charged.  More information can be found at   http://www.balloonfiesta.com/guest-guide

 

¹  Joseph-Michel Montgolfier (26 August 1740 – 26 June 1810) and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier (6 January 1745 – 2 August 1799) were the inventors of the Montgolfière-style hot air balloon, globe aérostatique. The brothers succeeded in launching the first manned ascent, carrying Étienne into the sky.