Best... day... ever!!!
We woke up around 4am to drive to the mall to catch the shuttle into the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. We were nervous about how Jordan was going to react to being woken up that early, but she was just fine. Her look in these pictures was her real demeanor that morning... calm, just looking around in wonder. We suited her up in a base layer, a full body insulating suit, and a full body rain suit. She, of course, refused to wear the hat and gloves until she got cold, but eventually put them on. We arrived well before sunrise to see the dawn patrol scout balloons go out. That was super cool.
As the sun was rising, all the special shape balloons started filling up and launching. We had originally planned to go 2 days, but the first day was too windy and so nothing launched so we never left the RV. This day was perfect though. Jordan loved seeing all the unique balloons. She took her first ever photo over Bruce's shoulder. When we were on the field, one of those 3 bees had to make an emergent landing in the middle of the field. We didn't know why... that is, until we reviewed the pictures later and found this photo of Jordan swatting it out of the sky! We grabbed some food in the state fair-like atmosphere and then headed back to the RV for family naptime. The campground had a pool, too, so Jordan was right there.
In the evening, they lit up the balloons and stand them up and let everyone walk around them, so we headed back in. This time we drove straight to the fairgrounds and parked, which was very well-organized both entering and exiting. We were surprised how easy it was. We all had a great time seeing the balloons lit up at night. It was a very different look than the morning. They had skydivers, a drone show, and fireworks. It was a long day, but one of the best ever! Jordan was probably on the younger end of appreciating it all, but still definitely worth it. We hope to go back again soon.
And with that, we shot back across the country to get home for work, with a few fun stops along the way...
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