Up, Up, and Carried Away – New Mexico

We travel, some of us forever,

to seek other states, other lives,

other souls.

Anaïs Nin

Hot Air Balloon Festival, Albuquerque

My favorite of all balloons this season: Infinitude Fractals

Very few things I will get out of my warm cozy bed and face the cold and dark for.  Most of them have to do with nature.  Enjoying an eclipse of the moon, celebrating the Milky Way in all its splendor, witnessing wildebeest and zebra migration, welcoming a splendid sunrise over a mountain peak, or dancing with the northern lights. 

This time, I faced freezing temperatures, long lines of cars or people, and deep foggy darkness to see something human-made, the lifting of hundreds of hot air balloons just before early dawn, a time, we, in English, don’t even have a word for, but the Spanish people do: la madrugada.  A beautiful word full of expectancy, discovery, and a bit of mystery.  Very fitting for what I was about to see.  

World’s largest hot air balloon festival

Bundled up warmly on this crisp early autumn morning

Called Balloon Glow for obvious reason

Some 80,000+ people attend daily!  

One of the few festivals left where you can walk among the balloons

and speak with the pilots

Coming out from inside this yellow balloon,

this guy was looking for a special ring to open a flap

in case of emergency. 

Unfortunately, he couldn’t find it.

I had no idea all balloons lined up so tightly they touched each other

while on the ground.  Fog is finally lifting, soon it will be time to launch.

Dressed in black and white (like referees), there are people

who let balloonists know when to lift off, organizing the mayhem. 

Various sizes go at different speeds so departures are monitored for safety.

Albuquerque is an especially interesting place to organize such events thanks to what is called the Albuquerque Box effect.  The ‘box’ is a weather phenomenon that allows hot air balloons to fly in a box pattern and land exactly where they took off from.  The lowest-level winds (nearest the ground) move in one direction and the higher-level winds move in another.   Exploiting these predictable patterns allows the pilots to better control where they fly and where they land.  This is also a bonus for the spectators who can watch a balloon launch and land, all from the same location.  No chasing necessary.

Loved by kids or kids at heart

Many whimsically shaped balloons

Peekaboo frog balloon

Infinitude fractal design balloon

In support of math and science

Burner on full blast, filling balloon with hot air

Great place to be near on a cold morning

Called the ‘Dawn Patrol’, some 6 or 7 balloons take off first

to estimate wind strength and direction and let the rest

(some 550 balloons from 17 countries)

know whether it is safe to go aloft

First time floating in Albuquerque

Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer balloon

Yoda, the favorite year after year (from Belgium)

That’s only 35+ balloons in the air

Imagine when it’s hundreds – breathtaking majesty of the Mass Ascension

People’s favorite, going over water

We are next to the Rio Grande River

The Rio Grande River and a bit of fog left from a cold morning

Balloons have been gracing earth’s skies since 1783.  The first flights had animals as passengers then the French got involved and the rest is a long and illustrious history.  Ballooning is so integral to Albuquerque that they also have a very nice Balloon Museum worth visiting.  I usually shy away from crowded events but there is a way to feel partly alone in the dark of dawn, watching the colorful glow of the balloons filling with hot air.  Truly enjoyable and a bit surreal.

Well – it seems like I’ve been enjoying various modes of transportations lately.  From the speed demons of the Bonneville Salt Flats to the narrow-gauge train from Antonito, CO, to Chama, NM, and now the Hot Air Balloons in Albuquerque. 

I am going back to nature next, visiting Carlsbad Cavern, White Sands National Monument, Three Rivers Petroglyphs and more...  Go explore too!