International Balloon Fiesta

Entertainer at an intersection, visible for a brief moment

I went to the International Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, NM this weekend.  I went with some of my colleagues.  We left last night.  As I was headed to the border last night, I was surprised to see an entertainer at one of the intersections.  The entertainer was twirling a flaming stick.  I couldn't see it most of the time, but it was still interesting to see another way that someone tries to make a little money around here.
We left for NM on a bus around 11:30 last night.  It was pretty easy to get to sleep until we were woken up by CBP at one of the checkpoints.  You see, something like 30 miles from the border, CBP has checkpoints to check on citizenship and permission to be father in the US.  People who have border crossing cards (basically a visa, but in card form) are allowed to be in the 30-mile border area without getting the normal permission called an I-94.  The I-94 allows people to go past the 30-mile border and stay as long as CBP allows.  So the checkpoint is to make sure that people have their I-94s, or are citizens.

Vendors at the fiesta

Anyway, after that we had a few hours before we arrived at the fair grounds.  We arrived around 4:30 am, and already there were lines of cars arriving.  We waited a little before we headed out.  Despite the early hour, there were a lot of vendors open.  We checked out some things and I decided on what I wanted to get later, then we got breakfast.  It was pretty cold, so we walked around to keep ourselves warm.  Around 5:30 or so they started inflating the first balloons and around 6:00 they launched the dawn patrol, the first balloons. It was pretty cool.  After the sun rose, the rest of the balloons started being launched.  There were hundreds of balloons of all different shapes, sizes, and colors.  They kept launching until around 9:00.
After that, we basically relaxed (I ended up falling asleep) until we went to get lunch.  After lunch, we bought our souvenirs, walked around the emptying grounds before returning to the bus.  We headed back around 1:00.  It was a short trip, but it was fun.  And now I really want to go for a hot air balloon ride.

The damn patrol, lit and almost ready to go

Flag balloon

Me at the fiesta

Balloon carrying the U.S. flag

Rolling out a ballooon

Balloons flying overhead

A tourist penguin

Darth Vader

Balloons in memory of POW-MIA

Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta