The alarm woke us at 5am and it was up, dressed and out the
door for a 5.30 shuttle to Balloon Park. We checked in to the Gondola Club –
the A reserve area - for breakfast and prime seating to watch the show. Breakfast was really nice, eggs, bacon, ham, smoked salmon,
breakfast burritos, all kinds of pastries and cakes (seems cake is OK for
breakfast here).
We took out seats outside in the dark for the morning glow.
Like last night the balloons inflated then lit up with the red and orange glow
of their burners. As dawn came, 4 balloons took off to test out the wind
conditions – the Dawn Patrol. They tracked slowly away from the site, then as
they rose higher, a stronger wind stream took them back the other way and off
towards the Sandia Mountains.
Then 2 balloons rose slowly up carrying the American flag as
everyone stood for the anthem.
Then they were followed by the mass ascension as
balloon after balloon took off. There were only 250 left as a number of them
had left after the night show last night, but it was still amazing to see.
There were some great shaped balloons – we saw penguins, a pig, a giant
stagecoach, a pirate ship and spiderpig from the Simpsons.
The wind picked up and at 8o’clock they stopped the
ascension as it was too risky and the remaining balloons stayed inflated but on
the ground. It was a great opportunity to walk around and see them up close. We
also saw the mounted police and mounted search and rescue teams (horse fix for
Ros).
We headed back to the RV for a shower and pack up. Long
drive ahead over the border to Arizona again. We drove past the Very Large
Array (VLA) – Radio telescopes, out on the plains in the middle of nowhere.
Finally into Springerville for the night. It’s been a long
day!
No comments:
Post a Comment