Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta | R. Doug Wicker — Author

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October 8, 2013 · 5:35 am

42nd Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta — Part 2

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

Today is Part 2 of our week-long look at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. This nine-day celebration is loaded with scheduled events., but you’ll have the most fun if you attend one of the weekend mass ascensions so plan accordingly.

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

Not all the balloons at this fiesta are what you would call run-on-the-mill.

Light House

There are some really interesting shapes, even if some of them never get off the ground.

Get That Dog Away from There!

For instance, if you look very carefully at this menagerie you may find a classic villain of the cinema:

Wait . . . Is That Darth Vader?

At any rate, there’s color galore. Here’s today’s gallery:

Wells Fargo — An Icon of the Old West

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

And an Alien from Roswell?

Angry Bird, Happy Bird, and Winky Cat

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

Bumblebees and Spider-Pig

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

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Tagged as Albuquerque Balloon Festival, Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, hot air balloons, photography, R. Doug Wicker, travel

October 7, 2013 · 5:35 am

42nd Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta — Part 1

Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta

I’m going to delay until next week Parts 1 and 2 on my photo series on the Three Rivers Petroglyphs. Instead, all this week I’m going to bring you a colorful four-part series on this year’s 42nd Annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. Then, on Fun Photo Friday, I’ll present a fifth series of hot air balloon pictures that represent my favorite pictures from this extraordinarily fun outing.

Pre-Dawn Glow

If it’s fall, it’s Hot Air Balloon time in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This year’s trip to this annual event was our third, but the first in a dozen years. That means that all my preceding shots of this awesome opportunity for colorfully whimsical photography are all pre-digital age. It was way past time for another trip to this, the world’s largest hot air balloon festival. This annual nine-day event is held the first full week in October and encompasses the weekends bracketing that week.

Pre-Dawn Glow

Make sure you’re well rested, because your day will start early. Our day began at 4:00 A.M. with a wake-up in our room at the Baymont. Before our wake-up, our alarm clock looked like this:

Our Alarm Clock Pre-Wake-Up

And afterward it appeared thusly:

That Same Alarm Clock Post-Wake-Up

But I digress. This is an early morning event if you want to see hundreds of hot air balloons take flight into the cold (yes, bring a jacket), clear skies above Albuquerque. There are evening events, but those involve mostly non-flying activities such as an evening “Balloon Glow” and fireworks. Go before sunrise and you’ll get that balloon glow anyway as the “Dawn Patrol” readies to lead the way for the mass ascension as the sun peeks out over the Sandia Mountains.

The Dawn Patrol takes to the Skies

By the way, there’s more hot air here than there is in the U.S. House of Representatives. Don’t believe me? Here’s the Albuquerque equivalent of Speaker John Beohner: