Hello and welcome to the newest edition of From The Vault! The series where I go back and dredge up old, lost, or unwritten stories of my travels. This has been something I’ve been debating how to write for ages since I only have a few pictures and trip knowledge to work with. There was never an Official Plan, itinerary, or google maps timeline so that has made it really tough to come up with a classic blog post.
On October 9, (2018) just after starting the fall season at Philmont I went down to Albuquerque to the annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. It was the first time I went and on this occasion I brought my Dad’s old Canon camera. I was going to try my hand at the complex art of photography!
The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta 2018
Brenda, Paul, Dennis, and I got to the park at about 5:30am. It was early in the morning, but the parking lot was already swarming with people trying to get a good spot to see the balloons.
The way it worked was there was the ‘first row of balloons’ that inflated in a line and then lifted off into the sky. That was the official start of the festival. It was really cool to see the balloons light up in a row! I tried to set the camera settings to the correct levels (I was using manual mode).
I played around with my exposure to try to see the flame. I think this came out rather nice!
People come from all over the world to join this event and every year (weather permitting) there is a few hundred balloons that fly. It is totally worth seeing.
Once the first 20 or so balloons lifted off, the sun started to come up and you could really see how everything worked. Basically the fabric of the balloon is laid out like a sleeping bag with ropes that connect it to the basket at the bottom. The basket is tilted on its side and as the balloon is filled with air the basket tilts up until it is upright.
Next there are several people holding the whole rig to the ground with super long ropes. That way it doesn’t just fly up without a rider.
Usually a basket has a few gas tanks and enough room for 4-6 people depending on the size of the basket. To fly the balloon the pilot operates a flame that fills it with hot air. The more hot air the higher it goes. To turn you need luck and an experienced pilot that can ride the wind. I’m no expert, but this is how everything seemed to me at the time so take this info with a grain of salt!
I think most of the balloons were privately owned, but there were quite a few balloons used for marketing purposes. It was really cool to see all the different designs.
The park is huge! I got to look across what seemed like an endless distance of balloons flying in the sky.
We got to walk right up to the basket of nearly all the rigs and meet the passengers, which was awesome.
Who doesn’t know the Re/Max balloon? It is a classic design.
Here we got Humpty Dumpty sitting on a…well…basket. Heh
The Star Wars balloons were very interesting. I wondered how well they flew when they had so many weird shapes. Like how aerodynamic is it?
I once found a black widow spider in my room at Philmont, but it definitely wasn’t this big!
I think the biggest hot air balloon on the field was the Wells Fargo wagon one. That was giant! It even came with its own RV to haul it around in.
The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta 2019
I was also lucky enough to be one of the 866,414 people at the fiesta in 2019.
We once again arrived at the best time: 5am. This time we were much much closer to the first line of balloons. Still really really special to see them up close despite having been already the previous year.
You had the chance to fly in the fiesta on a rented balloon. It was rather easy to spot them flying in the distance.
One guy had a small chair attached to the balloon and was flying without a basket! I have nerves of steel, but even I probably wouldn’t have the courage to do that. He seemed confident enough though.
That about wraps up this blog post. I hope you enjoyed my pictures! See you next time! (Friday, May 26)
Trip Stats
- Miles driven: 440mi (Albuquerque to Philmont = approx. 220mi one way)
- No BB8
- Most pictures were on my Canon camera and transferred to my iPhone!
- Balloons seen: hundreds
- Ballon Fiesta 2019 was the year with the record mass ascent of balloons (hot air balloons launched at the same time)
- Listened to Digifruitella by Mathew Delay on Spotify on repeat while writing this blog
- Trip rating: Totally worth it!
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