Balloon Fiesta
I am a mountain girl, or a desert girl, or a canyon girl. For the most part I am not a city girl. I would rather be on the trail then taking the subway. I like cities, and I like to experience cities. I am just typically never to that sad to leave. Whereas when I fly out of the likes of Seattle, Portland or Denver, I am grateful for my time there and so sad at all the adventures that will have to wait until next time.
My alarm went off at 4:30AM on a Saturday and I rolled out of bed and bundled up and headed out the door. By 5:15AM I was standing in line with my friend Maria to get a ticket for a bus. By 6:00AM Maria and I were wide awake on this bus and we were getting our first glimpse of a field covered in deflated hot air balloons. As we hopped of the bus the scene around us at Ballon Fiesta Park was bananas. One by one hot air balloons started to stand up. Watching the hot air balloons stand up was its own sort of orchestra. There were the hot air balloonists who were diligently fueling their balloons to rise into the sky.
I wanted to get closer to the balloons that were rising all around me. It was magical just being on the field. After about an hour of being on the field in the midsts of everything Maria and I got ourselves a breakfast burrito (obviously with some chile) and then got some Pinon Coffee (a very New Mexican kind of breakfast). By that point there were around 500 hot air balloons rising for the mass ascension. It seemed to happen all at once, even though we were just watching them rise one by one, the next thing we knew they were hundreds in the air!
It was probably the most spectacular man made show I had ever seen.
I was so enthralled with the whole event. The show that took place in between the mountains and the river was unforgettable. The sky filled with the pretties colors that human could have sent into the sky. I know that this is something that I want to see again and again. Because realistically no two ascensions will ever be the same.
