Oct 6 -- Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

 

Another early morning, but not as bad as yesterday.  The Dawn Patrol was already heading out and the balloons were all lit up.  One thing I find amazing is the sheer number of balloons they jam into one space!  They are all shoulder to shoulder, bouncing off one another until they manage to get into mid-air.

 

 

 

 

 

 

  We got our balloon unrolled and fired up, and First Responder and Fire Hydrant flew off into the sky.

            

 

         Once they were in the air, we all hopped in the trucks and headed out to chase.  Tod put the balloon down in the big open field right in front of our RV spot, so after we got it all wrapped up again, we just strolled back home and enjoyed watching all the balloons coming down in our front yard.

In the afternoon we went to the cultural center for the 10 pueblos and toured their museum.  A number of different pueblos had dancers there, so we watched the buffalo dance and the deer dance.

         

After the museum, we went into Old Town for a late lunch at La Placita, a restaurant that is the iconic Old Town place to eat.  After enjoying our lunch, we strolled to the plaza, where there were flaminco dancers performing for all the balloon fiesta crowd.