Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta Day 4

 Tuesday was day 4 of the fiesta. Once again I watched the dawn patrol balloons take off and then the mass ascension from outside of our fifth wheel. 

It's hard to capture the scope of all the balloons flying over. Here's a panoramic shot of our row in the south RV parking area. People are coming and going every day, so there were some empty spots next to us. Click on it to enlarge. All those little dots are balloons.

This is the New Mexico tourism association balloon.

The morning news had a great human interest story about the people flying in Smokey the Bear. Eight years ago they were supposed to be married in this balloon. Due to poor weather conditions, the balloon didn't fly that day, so they got married in the back of the vintage fire truck that travels with Smokey. Today they are celebrating their 8th anniversary with a ride in the balloon. So many stories at balloon fiesta.

I did not realize how fortunate it was to see so many of the special shape balloons on the first morning. Most of them have not flown since then. However, Yoda and Darth Vader have been up most days. Sometimes, its not so easy to get a front picture as the balloons turn and aren't always facing you as they fly over. Today I got a great shot of Yoda.

Darth Vader landed in the field behind the RVs. He looks quite skeletal as he is beginning to deflate. Yikes!!

Another new one I hadn't seen before.

Each morning, depending on wind conditions, the balloons take a different path. Most days they went straight south or a bit west. Yesterday some of them headed east which put them over the mountains. The sun was also just coming up so the mountains looked somewhat washed out. Still a cool thing to see.

More balloons with our fifth wheel and truck in the picture.

After watching the balloons, we went to the Balloon Museum. They had a very interesting display about the race to reach the north pole. Multiple attempts by land and sea had failed, so in 1897 a group of explorers attempted to go by hot air balloon. They actually made it, but had to land the balloon and ended up perishing as they tried to hike out.

This is a replica of the first hot air balloon to cross the English Channel and the first International flight on January 7, 1785. 

The Breitling Orbiter 3 piloted by Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones launched from the Swiss Alpine village of Château-d'Oex on March 1, 1999 was the first balloon to fly non-stop around the world. They landed in the Egyptian desert after being aloft 19 days, 21 hours, and 55 minutes on March 21, 1999, having traveled a distance of 25,361  mi. During the course of the flight, the balloon had climbed to altitudes of up to 38,507 ft, and achieved speeds up to 123 knots.

This was an interesting statistic. The average hot air balloon is 70-90,000 cubit feet in volume, which means 22 or more elephants would fit inside. Wow!!

Only one more day of balloons for us. We leave on Wednesday. The fiesta continues until Sunday. Thursday and Friday they do the evening glow with the special shape balloons. If I'd have known that, we would have booked extra days. 

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!