When we moved to New Mexico, we instantly added the Hot Air Balloon Fiesta on our Bucket list! We had heard wonderful things about it, so this year - we decided to go and see for ourselves the amazing display and events of the fiesta. Clay got 4 days off and we went to Albuquerque. We got there Thursday evening - and decided to introduce the kids to Tucanos restaurant (A favorite of Clays from our BYU days). Oh boy did we hear whining and complaining the whole way because the kids didn't want to go to THAT restaurant, they wanted McDonalds...oh goodness kids. Well, we FORCED the kids to go with us! Meaning - there was no way mom and dad were going to eat at the golden arches when we can have us some Tucanos! After we got seated and the meat started coming around on the "swords" the kids loved it! They were raving about the experience for days, saying that was one of the best restaurants EVER!
Thursday night we tried to have an early bed time because we woke up dark and early Friday morning at 4 AM! We left the hotel at 5 and got to the park shortly after 5:30. As we arrived we saw about 8-10 hot air balloons lift off and glow in the dark of the morning. It was so neat to see them fly off as we walked into the park. However, when we got down into the field - there was nothing. Hmmm.? Surely there are more balloons that will be taking off?? Clay and Laura looked at each other and talked in quiet whispers to each other....did we just wake ourselves and our kids up at 4 am to see 8 hot air balloons take off? You have got to be kidding me..... rather than share our concern with the children, we decided to make the most of the situation and go and talk to one of the balloonists who had his basket in the back of his pickup truck. As we saw a close up of the basket and asked questions about how it worked, etc. The guys said, "Give us about 30 min. and this place will get loud, really loud, and there will be balloons everywhere." Really??? OK! We can do that, and sure enough...within a few minutes, a balloon started filling up and right in sequence...not just one, but two, three, four, five...hundreds of balloons started popping up off the ground getting blown up. It was amazing how close you could be to these huge things. We literally stood next to the torch and felt it's blast of heat as it filled up the balloon. There were so many balloons they were literally touching each other as they filled up and side by side and lifted off the ground. It is hard to capture the feeling of being there and the awe inspiring feeling of the moment, but all I can say is, The whole experience was Pretty amazing and Definitely worth the 4 am wake up call!
No comments:
Post a Comment