Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta 10/6/13

Adventure Caravans International Balloon Fiesta Rally Day 3

Sunday, Oct. 6, 2013

There was another mass ascension of balloons this morning.  I took a picture out of the door of our trailer, looking over the motorhome next door to give an idea of what a perfect location we are parked in.

Pirate parrot and other balloons

Here is another example of how immersed in the festival we are.  These balloons have landed very near our group of trailers.  The people with maroon jackets and hats are with our rally.  There are a couple different shapes.

Sea life balloon has landed, but the others are still going

And Darth Vader landed in another RV camping area across the field.

There are over 541 balloons, from all over the world, registered in the Fiesta events so I will show you a few of the ones that I didn't see yesterday.


Smokey bear



Beaver



Scuba diver, fireman, fire hydrant, witch on broom, clock



Bee blocking the sun

The Adventure Caravans had a champagne brunch for us today.  It is tradition to have a champagne brunch after a balloon flight, although we did not take one ourselves.  They do try to get us into the spirit of things.  It was delicious.

This evening, we went back to the launch area for the balloon glow.  Yesterday was too windy for the gas filled balloons to take off, so tonight, they launched off on a race to see who can go the farthest from the balloon fiesta.  I am actually writing this on the 7th, so it has now been 28 hours since they left.  There were 5 gas balloons in the race.  As of my writing, one has already landed after going 257 miles and the other 4 are 350 - 405 mi. away.  Gas balloons are filled with hydrogen instead of hot air and are used for long distant flying, so they are expected to possibly reach Canada before they finish the race.

Five gas balloons ready to launch 

Launching

Look closely.  There are 4 flying and 1 ready to go

We watched the hot air balloons inflate and glow.  The balloons are tethered to keep them from flying off.  This is the process of inflation.



Preparing the envelope for inflation

Everyone helps -see the little helper pulling the lines

Filling with air

Ad a little heat



Almost up



Success and glow 

Everyone gets to walk among the balloons.  It is nice and warm from all of the burners going off to keep the balloons inflated.  There is a second type of burner that is used for the glow, but both are very hot.  Here are two views.

Wells Fargo Stagecoach

Mass glow

After the glow and the balloons were put away, there was another fireworks show.  Again, we didn't take photos.  Maybe the next time they have a glow and fireworks show, we will get some pictures of them.