Weather... whether or not

Well, off to the Balloon Fiesta Grounds. There are two exits off the Interestate for the Fiesta; it is that big. We paid our $10 to park and were directed by parking attendants to a gravel lot not far from the entrance. After paying $6 each to get in, the first thing you notice are the dozens and dozens of vendors on the grounds... selling food, t-shirts, art, jewelry, pins, hats, more food. AARP was there. So was the State of Texas. And Sea World. Honda. The Cayman Islands. If you can imagine it, someone there was trying to sell it to the throngs of balloon viewers.


The only thing missing - balloons. There were a few gas balloons, and thousands of people wandering about the grounds... occasionally some trucks or trailers with balloon team names on the side. They were in their spots to set up for the balloon glow.

We wandered by some of the vendor booths; found some fried cheese curds. Picked up some pizza at one of the dozens of booths selling that. We then visited some of the touristy vendors, waiting for the sun to go down.


Looking up on the bluff overlooking the grounds, you could see the “Presidential Parking” for RVs... a great view of the grounds from your RV window... for only $135 per night... but, it is a nice view.

When the sun began to set, the wind came up. You could see the gas balloons really moving in the wind.



As the sun set, the full moon came up over the distant mountains... very pretty. I expected the wind to die down, but it got stronger. I began to think they might cancel the Balloon Glow. We wandered around the grounds; people were sitting on lawn chairs and blankets on the ground. There was no activity from the balloon teams. Then, what we hoped not to hear: the Balloon Glow was cancelled, due to the increasing winds.

We started walking back to the truck, well ahead of the crowd. Unfortunately, the parking spot near the grounds entrance put us WAY back in the line of traffic to get out. We spent the better part of an hour, just waiting in line.

And then a loud BOOM! And a bunch of fireworks, right in front of our truck. They cancelled the Balloon Glow, but apparently not the fireworks display. We had a front row seat. With the bumper to bumper traffic and no one moving, we sat back and enjoyed the show.



Slowly, the traffic began to move. By now, LOTS of people had made it to their vehicles, slowing progress even more. Once we got out of the parking lot, the Police had traffic moving out on the roads. A minute or two later, we were up on the Interstate. I-25 to I-40, and about a mile off the Interstate and we were back home.

So, the balloons and Balloon Glow we had hoped to see tonight was a bust. There will be another Balloon Glow tomorrow evening... but the weather weasels (yes, the same ones who said it would be “perfect” tonight) are predicting strong winds after sunset. We’re also planning to do sunrise tomorrow... we’ll see how it works out.