I really did set the alarm for 6:13 this AM.  At 3AM there was a plane flying low over the trailers.  It made about 4 passes then disappeared leaving us awake.  When the alarm went off I got up and stuck my head outside the trailer to see what was going on.  I saw nothing happening, no Dawn Patrol, just a few vehicles driving around.  So we did not hurry getting up.  The wind was still pretty strong and there was a cloud cover that was low enough that we could not see the tops of the Sandia Mountains to the east.  I thought this cloud cover may have been creating an unworkable ceiling for the balloonists but I could be all wet.  We walked through the field and the wind was gradually pushing the clouds to the north.  A couple of balloons took off and I could see they were drifting to the northwest so we headed over to that part of the field to get them going over us.  It was still cloudy.  The balloons slowly started to fill and launch, there was a palpable feeling in the crowd as it started and everyone started heading to where we were!  I just stayed in one place and started taking MANY shots (for me).  I eventually lost Roxie in the throng but we both had cell phones and decided to find each other later.

I have heard it said that this fiesta is the most photographed event in the world and I believe it!  Everyone either had an SLR, simple digital or a cellphone and were taking photos.  Luckily most of the shots were in the air so peoples heads were not a problem, especially if you are 6’1″.  I just stood there and turned to take a shot of a liftoff, turned another way to take another.  Roxie and I called each other to find each other and after a bit of trying to understand each others directions we reunited.  I was standing right near a balloon that was ready to take off.  Usually the officials that launch the balloons (called Zebras due to their referee garb) clear out a path in front of the launch.  I stood right next to a van there, knowing full well it wouldn’t be moving so I would not have to either.  The balloon lifted off and I got this shot of them 10′ over my head.

The silence as they floated by was eerie.

The sun was starting to come out from behind the clouds now and I was in the wrong location to shoot since a lot of the shots would have been into that appearing sun.  So I moved again and Roxie went to shoot the Nemo fish balloon.  I shot for about 20 more minutes before we had the difficult task of reuniting but we did it.

Here is another shot I got (of the many) and you can see the cloud bank as it is moving to the north.

We walked the entire vendor booth area and it reminded me of a fair or an Airshow.  We walked past the booth with the chile breakfast burritos they were saying $2!  We paid $5 the morning before.  We could not pass up such a discount and got two for breakfast and sat down for a while.  There were a few people out sleeping on the grass and I thought that was a good idea but we didn’t have a blanket.  We went back to the trailer.

Shortly before lunch we thought we would go to Old Town Albuquerque.  Since it was close to lunch I looked for a restaurant on my iPhone using Yelp! and Urbanspoon.  We thought Mexican food would work so we found Monica’s El Portal Restaurant.  It was just across the street from Old Town but not frequented by many visitors.  There were almost exclusively New Mexico license plates in the parking lot.  I had two tacos and Roxie had a salad with chicken on a piece of Indian Fry Bread.  It was very good.  They gave us sides of red and green chile sauce.  Roxie thought the green was impossible to eat and the red was really hot and she did not eat either.  I, surprisingly, liked the red and used it on my tacos.  They also gave us two Sopapillas. I hadn’t had Sopapillas for a LONG time and I do enjoy them.  We put honey on them and went at it.

After lunch we walked around Old Town, got some souvenirs, looked in some stores and visited a few bathrooms.  Roxie talked to an indian dressed in authentic clothing and she talked to him for a bit.  Maybe she will fill us in on it more.  We left around 3pm so we could avoid any traffic problems coming back to the fiesta grounds to avoid any traffic.  There was an after potluck potluck this evening, we were to bring the leftovers from the previous night.  Roxie made the Broccoli Cheese casserole that she didn’t have to the previous day.  It was windy but fun to talk to old and new friends.

This evening there were fireworks again and this night they were much better and timed good.  We even got to see the ground display.  We are calling it an early evening tonight as I have to check out the local transmission shops to see what can be done to the truck before we start back.

Oh, and the alarm will NOT be set for tomorrow.  Anyone have a guess when we will wakeup?

So we set the alarm for 5:29am (Roxie asked why 5:29 also).  Well I didn’t like setting it for 5:30.  The ‘Dawn Patrol’ was to launch at 5:45.  The Dawn Patrol is a group of 12 balloons that inflate and launch right before dawn.  It is fun to see them light up with the burners:

The picture is a bit blurry but then again so was I!  I am not used to getting up that early, wow!  We watched these 12 take off, head down to the south of the field, ascend, then travel to the north of the field.  This is the wind condition called the Albuquerque Box.  It is one of the things that makes this area so appealing to balloonists.  After the Dawn Patrol it was time for the ‘Mass Ascension”.  You really don’t know what they mean when they say ‘Mass’ unless you are here.  I heard that over 500 balloonists registered for this.  It could have very easily been that many.  Here is a shot of some:

One nice thing about the Fiesta is you can walk around the grounds and around the balloons as they are being laid out, filled with air, heated and then takeoff.  You can walk right up next to the basket and take a shot inside:

The best part was standing right next to the baskets when the burners were lit.  They were nice and warm and I was COLD!  It seemed to get colder right as dawn was breaking.  Having a breakfast burrito with New Mexico chiles did not help that much.  So you would stand there and watch about 20 balloons lifting off in sequence, then look down the field and see another 30 being filled, then look the other way and see another 40 being laid out.  It was very impressive.  It was difficult to keep track of all of it, very sensory overwhelming.  In the sky all the balloons were all over, different locations, altitudes and directions.  Here is a later view of just a part of the sky:

How many do you count?  I got 100-110, different numbers each time.  It shows you part of the immensity of it all.  I will post all the photos to my Flickr account under a Balloon Fiesta set when we get back.  I will also have the above photo in a panorama picture.  All the balloons are not the same shape, the favorite appeared to be this one:

It took a long time to inflate, but when it went up it went to cheers from the crowd.  It was pretty big and it took off very rapidly.  Another favorite were these two:

Now it looks like these two are holding hands and they are.  However is no attachment point between the two balloons.  The pilots maintained this connection from lift off until I wasn’t watching them any more.  I was told these balloonists can also, under the right conditions, rotate them so they can ‘kiss’.  The vast majority of the balloons are very colorful, alas it was pretty cloudy so the sun didn’t bring out the colors as it should but I tried to take any ‘artsy’ shot of a balloon while being inflated.

We headed back to the trailer after all of the balloons were launched (about 9am) got inside to get warmed up and promptly slept for almost 4 hours.  See, told you about the unfamiliarity with waking up early.  We got up, did a quick bit of grocery shopping for the evening potluck and came back.  Yes, there are Airstreams here also.  We are in 3 rows, we are in Row 2

(That’s us with the blue awning)

We had the evening potluck with the usual plethora of food.  It is funny how there is rarely any duplications at these.  We sat around, ate, visiting and wondered when the helium balloons were going to lift off.  They had been filling these balloons all afternoon for a race that they have.  They see who can go the farthest in a certain amount of time.  They were supposed to take off around 6pm but they were still there when Roxie and I went back to the field around 6:30.  They were scheduled to have some balloons be inflated and then light themselves up with their burners.  Kind of like the Dawn Patrol but they would not take off.  The night would then culminate with fireworks.  Well the helium balloons were on hold and the other balloons were canceled due to gusty winds.  Even the fireworks were odd.  There were a couple of large gaps, the first one so long that we almost got back to our trailer before they started setting them off again.  The helium balloons will go off whenever the winds die down even if that is 3am (we won’t see it).

All in all it was a very fun but oddly scheduled day.  The same may happen tomorrow but we won’t get up that early.  Maybe 6:13?