Up, Up, and Away...

The alarm went off at 4:45 this morning, and we were on the road shortly after 5:00. The local news last night was reporting the long waits in traffic at the Balloon Fiesta yesterday, and recommended that anyone attending today be on the road by 4:30. We figured we'd take our chances.

The drive in was easy and relatively uncrowded. We parked near the Balloon Fiesta Grounds entrance, and went in for a tasty breakfast burrito. It was still dark, and there was no sign that balloons would be launching this morning. There was a heavy overcast, but not much wind. We entertained ourselves by walking through more vendor booths and eating a cinnamon funnel cake.

Now getting a bit lighter, but still no balloon activity. Finally, around 7:30 one balloon sporting a large American flag launched, and the activity began!

Over the next hour and a half, hundreds of balloons inflated and launched... even though we've seen this before, it is an amazing sight. This is billed as "the most photographed event in the world," and I don't doubt it one bit. We fired off over 250 photos and everyone of the thousands of people milling about was clicking away. Here are a few of those images...


This is one of the few events where spectators are allowed to be on the "playing field" with the participants. Watching these beauties launch up close and personal is part of the appeal of this event. There are teams coordinating who launches and when, and then the chase teams head off to try to keep track of their balloon. Quite a sight!