When we realized we could time our Route 66 trip to be in Albuquerque during the Balloon Fiesta, I set to work researching the situation. We could schedule a full day in Albuquerque on this Sunday.
I learned that all hotels near Fiesta Park were already booked. This would necessitate getting a hotel room further away.
I also learned you can drive yourself to a parking lot near Fiesta Park. It is $20 each time you exit and re-enter these lots. The cost for us to enter Fiesta Park was $15 per person per time we entered.
The second possibility was to purchase a bus ticket which included entry into Fiesta Park. The school bus would pick you up at one of two malls where you could leave your car for free. It dropped you off and would return you to the mall. This was done in the morning and again in the evening. You pay $23.50 for the bus transport to and from and the entry into the park plus $1.50 fee per person.
Basically there is a morning event and an late afternoon and evening event. This means you need to purchase morning and evening tickets. We opted to go the bus route since our hotel was a good distance from the park. After attending the Fiesta, I highly recommend the bus route.
There are two times to catch the bus in the morning depending on what you want to see. You can catch it at 4:30am and see the drone show prior to the morning mass ascension. We opted for the 5:30am bus to see just the mass ascension. If I did this again, I would go with the 4:30am bus.
Our bus from Coronado Center to Fiesta Park was driven by a cute lady who decorated her bus with hot ait balloons. So fun! We were at Fiesta Park from about 6am till about 10:30am.
Think about a field that is 60 acres in size. There is an entrance at the south end. Along the west side is where all the vendor tents are located. This is called Main Street. Inside of that and around the perimeter of the 60 acre field is a paved road. The 60 acre field is set up so balloonists can each have a spot for their transport truck or vehicle and eventually their balloon and gondola. That is a basic layout of Fiesta Park.
The bus dropped us off at the center of the west edge outside of the Main Street vendors. It was still dark. We carefully made our way thru the opening in the vendor booths, across the road and into the 60 acres with all the balloons. This was an excellent location. We found ourselves in the middle of everything.
We watched balloons fill with air in a row of balloons not far from us. It was like watching lightning bugs in the south at night. The balloonist turns on the flame to begin filling the Balloon with air. Every time a flame goes off, you see light in the dark. Once the balloons are full of air, they have to wait for a green light letting all of them know the weather and wind were right for a lift off. Saturday we never saw a balloon all day. It was the first day of the Fiesta. The air was too hot and not moving enough. A few balloons were able to lift off but not as many as one would hope. Sunday was a lot cooler and the wind was perfect. We were in for a real mass ascension.
First the balloons fill with air. At night as the flames go on and off the fill the balloon with air to to keep it filled with air, it appears to me light fireflies in the southern sk
It is fun to watch the balloons spread out. Remember, the field is full of people watching. The balloonist learn they can now fill their balloon with air. They take it out of its storage container. Then several people walk through the crowd alerting the people they needed lots of ground to lay out their balloon. You see mankind at its best. The people respond quickly by moving their folding chairs and blankets while the balloon team stretches and spreads a flat balloon on the ground.
Once the balloon has lifted off, the balloon team left on the ground gets in their vehicle and makes their way out of Fiesta Park to follow their balloon till it lands. They are the chase vehicle. Again, mankind at its best. Ahead of these vehicles are workers at the Fiesta alerting the crowd to make a path for big trucks. The crowd again moves so these trucks can get thru.
The green light was given for lift off while it was still dark. These are ascension pictures. The first is the first balloon we saw lift off in the dark.
As soon as there was sufficient light, the National Anthem was played and a Dos Equis balloon lifted off with the United States of American flag flying below it. Very moving. It was a bit amusing a Dos Equis balloon was the carrier of the flag. I heard several around us making comments about this bit of irony.
So many fun shapes and sizes of balloons.
Around 10am, you could feel it was warmer and there was not as much wind. Some balloons that had not yet ascended, began to let the air out of their balloons. They would not fly.
We walked over to the Krispy Kreme vendor for a donut and some water. We were feeling a mite peckish. Then we stopped at the souvenir vendor and found a Christmas tree ornament.
We found the LONG line of others waiting for the bus back to the mall. This line was a testament to how well run this massive process runs. It really didn't take long to get up and to a bus. Then to the mall and back to our hotel. We laid our tired bones down for a much-needed nap!
We were still hungry and wanted a little something when we woke up. We decided to find a fast food place and get a little something. Burger King fit our bill. Went thru the drive-thru and found a rare tree to sit under. We rolled down the windows and enjoyed a gentle breeze, a light snack and good conversation. We actually sat there (we had to moved the car a couple of time to keep in the shade) till 4pm. During this talk, we agreed we would not go back to the evening festitivies. Then we went to Applebee's for dinner before returning to the hotel.
The wheels went off the bus when we got to our room. I had carried our room key in my left pocket so it didn't get near a cell phone. I gave it to Claude. He tried to open the door. It made a noise like it was trying to unlock but it would not. After each of us trying multiple times, I took the key to the office and asked him to make me a new one.
Back to the 3rd floor and Claude tried the new key. After both of us trying multiple times, the door still would not unlock. Back to the office I went. I explained the door was a problem the first time we left the room on Saturday. I shared that we left the room and checked to be sure the door locked behind us. It was not locked at all. We tried several things and the door would not lock. Finally, we held the key card over the lock for a long time and it made a clicking noise about 5 times in a row. Then the door locked and we left. This bit of information helped the front desk clerk formulate an idea of how to correct our problem. He checked a manual and determined it was a worn out battery. He would come to our room, replace the battery and we were set for the night. Geez!!
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