Last weekend we headed down to Albuquerque to stay with a friend for the International Balloon Festival. This is a crazy week as people come from ALL OVER THE WORLD to show their balloons, see balloons and compete is a cross-country balloon race. The park opens each day at 4 am and doesn't close until after dark.
On Saturday we woke early and went to the Park and Ride at 5:40 to catch a bus to watch the mass ascension of the balloons. After waiting in line until almost 7:00, the ascension was canceled due to high, high winds. So even though it was calm on the ground it was windy "up there". We headed back to my friend's house to take a nap after breakfast and then headed out to the Aquarium and Botanical gardens. Wyatt thought the rays were 'waving' to him as they swam by so he had to re-visit every tank window to wave back to all of them!
Afterwards we headed to the Balloon Park to shop and watch the evening Balloon Glow and Firework show. Then we headed to the movie theatre for Wyatt to see his first big screen show: NEMO IN 3D !!! He sat through the whole thing and LOVED it!
Sunday we woke at 4am and was to the Park and Ride by 4:50. We were on a bus by 5:00 and at the park soon after to watch the Dawn Patrol (a dozen or so balloons that head up in the pre-dawn to check the safety of the weather for the rest of the balloon). Since it was deemed safe, by 7:00 the balloons began lifting off. There were wave after wave of hundreds and hundreds of balloons rising into the morning sky until almost 11:00. We parked ourselves next to a group of Midwestern balloon owners and chatted a bit with them as they set up their balloons. It was cool to be right amongst the balloons as they filled and lifted off. Wyatt had to wave to everyone!
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