Last year in October, Joy and I were able to cross off one of the items on our “bucket” list. We attended the 43rd annual Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. The fiesta ran for 9 days from Oct 4th until October 12th. We spent two full days and returned to Tucson on October 12th, Joy’s birthday. More on that at the end of this chat.

The fiesta is an international event, with more than 20 countries participating. In 2014, over 850,000 people attended the fiesta.

We decided to not camp because most campgrounds were nearly as much as motels. We drove to a park and ride area where buses picked us up and deposited us outside the main entrance. The return trip was by the same mode, with buses running continuous until about noon. This was a very good way to see the fiesta. One of the bus drivers said by 9am on Saturday, there was a 8 mile traffic back-up on I-25, which we totally avoided

Both days we arrived at the grounds about an hour before sunrise and left about 10:30am.

The photos do not sufficiently project what its like to be on the grounds among the balloons getting ready and lifting off. In a couple of cases the marshals, those folks in charge of the lift offs, moved us back in order for the balloon to inflate. We were that close. It was exhilarating, amazing with so much all around and above us.

At many times we often did not know which way to look. The size, shape and colors of the balloons were everywhere. Special shapes are a big feature of the fiesta. A wild guess on my part would be well over 200 unique shapes and colors. Our photos only show a sampling of the whole event.

If you get a chance, try and attend one of these future balloon fiestas. We think you will have a wonderful experience and it will give many years of memories.

Now the birthday celebration. New Mexico has many historic and famous trails throughout the state. The one we discovered on this trip was the “Green Chile Cheeseburger Trail. We stopped at the town of Hatch, world famous for its green chilies, about 180 mile south of Albuquerque along I-25. Our stop here was for lunch at Sparky’s Barbarque, the incurable romantic that Dick is, we had a ..., guess what we had? Right, an Amazing Green Chile Cheeseburger. It was very tasty, and a tad spicy.

On the “trail”, a tear with every bite is considered compliments to the chef.

Happy Birthday Joyce.


Joy & Dick Wood