Thursday, October 18

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

We spent one day of our vacation in Albuquerque. It’s about an hour away from Santa Fe. The annual balloon festival was going on that week. We had never been to one, but wanted to check it out. Oops, that’s Fiesta. Aubry reminded us that all festivals in New Mexico are Fiestas.

Like any good festival, there are lots of food stands. How can you can tell you are in the New Mexico? Where else do they offer breakfast burritos, green chile burgers, frito pies, and green chile tortilla burgers. Sounds good, don’t it?
Kris and Aubry at an alpaca vendor stand. The stuff is so soft. Even the stuffed toy alpaca is made of real alpaca.
What would a festival be without guys with chainsaws turning logs into works of art. It really is amazing what you can do with a chainsaw.
Funny how the one shot of me and Kris at the festival is in front of a beer balloon.

A cool shot of blowing hot air.
We spent quite a bit of time watching one team preparing to get their balloon in the air. We used the shade of the van preparing the rabbit balloon to stay cool.
Darth Vader balloon. That’s just cool!
Here is a fisheye view of the balloons at the festival. Maybe I could get a balloon made in the shape of a greyhound?
We left the festival and headed to Sandia Peak. It has the longest aerial tram in the world. Who would’ve guessed it was in Albuquerque. The top is about two miles about sea level. Great for someone like me who is afraid of heights. They said because of the altitude, each drink is more like two or three. So of course we had to have a drink at the top. This is a shot of Albuquerque from the top. That little flash of light in the bottom right corner is the fireworks show from the balloon fiesta.


4 comments:

  1. heehee! for some reason, i had it in my mind that you were going to look at a bunch of latex balloons...what you saw is much cooler! =) looks like it was quite an experience...who knew there was so much to offer there?

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  2. Awesome pictures! Alpacas are very cool! The guy who built our house has an Alpaca farm in Charles City. A group of Alpaca Farmers go to the State Fair each year. They always draw in crowds to see the Alpacas.

    =)

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  3. That is pretty cool..and you are right,Amanda, much cooler than latex balloon animals. ;-)

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  4. i've always wanted to go. aw man...

    i hope you have printed the one of you two with the beer balloon. that's funny.

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