I had the opportunity to attend the 2014 Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. This was my first time and to say the least I was quite excited about what a great photo opp this would be. As it turns out I attended twice. I went for the balloon glow on Saturday night of the first day of the fiesta. Turns out the winds were greater than 10 mph so only limited number of balloons actually inflated for the glow. While I was disappointed, it was still pretty damned cool! Went back on Sunday morning. Got up at 4:00 am and drove from Santa Fe to the balloon fiesta grounds to be there in time for the “dawn patrol,” a group of balloonists that inflate and fly prior to sunrise, and then for the mass ascension just after sunrise. I sat in a monster traffic jam on I-25 but did make it into the grounds before dawn. Then guess what–the wind was too high again so no dawn patrol. At around 45 minutes after sunrise the yellow caution flag came down and a;; the balloons started inflation process to take off on the green flag. I started snapping away and was anxiously awaiting the mass launch. Then suddenly they all started to deflate–the yellow flag was back as the wind had exceeded 10 mph again. Skunked at my first fiesta. It was still awesome and I plan to go back next year. Hopefully they will fly!
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