We arrived in Albuquerque on October 28, 2017 and stayed at the Isleta RV Campground. We know another Casino campground but this was the cheapest we could find for three weeks plus we were here for the International Balloon Fiesta.
Going to the fiesta takes a lot of work. First, you cannot easily drive to fiesta without being in long lines and delays. You have to shoot for an arrival by no later than 4:30 a.m. so that you are there for the Dawn Patrol and the Mass Ascension. So we took the bus from Coronado Mall and was first in line at 3:15 a.m. Don’t worry we were not alone! This was just the start of the line. Later all the rest of the parking lot was full.
So we arrived around 4:15 a.m. to the park. Interesting to find out that the bus driver did this as volunteer and took tips. We hoped they were tipped by everyone on the bus.
So we first walked down the boardwalk because Lorraine had to get a little warm – at least she hoped that would help. Tons of places serving coffee and breakfast. We got the cinnamon rolls. We then decided to walk through the dark fields. (4:30 a.m.) While we were walking the fields in the dark, we could see the teams start setting up their balloons. We were lucky to find Tim and Dee Taylor’s Star Spangled Balloon -which of course we didn’t know anything about any of the them but when we saw the stars and stripes we had to stop.
Dee was very nice and told Lorraine that her and Tim got married on a balloon – which was his first ride – and she hasn’t been able to get him off the balloon since. They were such nice people. 
Here are our pictures of the dawn patrol. (We will have to tell you that as we stood next to to Stars Spangled (Dee III) balloon and every time they shoot up the flame, Lorraine put her hands up in the air near it and with the heat coming off, so she hoped they would defrost. Unfortunately, the flame was not long enough.)
So now the Mass ascension began. Lorraine was a little confused because she believed that Mass ascension meant that all 500+ balloons went up at once but they went up in rows with about 10-15 balloons at a time. Another attendee who has been going to this for years, explained that there was no wind and they would be doing a box – up, across, down and across. That is why all the balloons look like they were just hanging there and but they kept making the rounds and coming back. The day before, the wind pushed them all south so they didn’t hang around but today it was awesome because they stayed.
Be prepared because there are many pictures following and we hope you enjoy them as much as we did. Grab a coke (or a drink of your choice) and enjoy – especially the ones with the moon. Not a cloud in the sky.
Gun slinging Armadillo
