These are a few pics of the Dawn Patrol. They launch these balloons earlier than everything else so the other balloonists can get an idea of the prevailing winds. They are really pretty lit up in the sky.
There are tons of people and a very festive atmosphere even as the sun is rising. Lots of schools have field trips for their kids on this day because of the prevalence of the special shapes.
It was pretty cold out to begin with again, and check out how we have to push through the balloons to get around. I did one stitch pic to show how big these balloons are on the ground.
There were a lot of regular balloons on display, more taking customers up than when we came on Monday. But the big attraction are all the special balloons. Here are a bunch, the majority of which I don't think we saw the other day.
Who would have thought of making one of Carmen Miranda?
And you have to be my age to recognize Felix the Cat and Pepe LePieu (sp?)!
I love the glasses on this baseball player balloon...there are a bunch of balloons reflected in them.
Here are just a few of the regular balloons...I love the colors!
Once all the balloons have launched they cleared the field for a balloon competition. 1st you can see the refs, then the 2nd pic is of that tall, white pole...it has an envelope on top of it that the balloonists try to float by and grab...it has $2000 in it. Then the 3rd pic has a flag like on a golf course...they play "closest to the pin" by throwing a marker out of their balloons and whoever gets closest wins.
Here the balloons are floating around and lining up to try to get the envelope or throw their marker...there were probably several hundred balloons in the competition, but we only saw one get close enough to grab an envelope.
This was really fun...we are glad we came and glad again that we stayed the extra day to see the balloons today. I hope the kids like this posting, too!
These pictures are great! I love the witch riding the balloon. I also love the one with all the different almost triangle shape colors. very cool. How can all those balloons fly together without flying into each other
ReplyDeleteby Julie (I can no longer get my URL to post
I'm glad ya'll got to stay and the weather cooperated, this was a reak treat. love ya
ReplyDeleteI guess you know I can't spell I meant real not reak treat. haha,
ReplyDeleteThose balloons are huge. Compared to the regular ones, the ones of characters look so big if you look at the little basket underneath. I liked the witch too and that huge cow. Did they actually go up? Looks like fun.
ReplyDeleteThese pictures are awesome!!! I love the baseball player....the refelction of the other balloons is really cool and the dawn patrol with the lights looks great. Are you guys gong to Carlsbad Caverns? I am off to Madison, WI tomorrow, my nephew owns an Irish pub out there and he is turning 40 at the end of the month so a few of us are flying out to surprise him...if you're ever there the name of the pub is Brocach and his name is Cliff McDonald and the pub is right across from the state capitol!! I'm bringing him a Southie sweatshirt!! Take care.
ReplyDeleteP and C - it was great seeing you guys while you were here. These are some of the best pictures of balloons I've seen....and I live here. Stay in touch and I look forward to following you guys "livin the dream".
ReplyDeletePaula, you and Cathy look GREAT in the Star Wars gear! Do I win the prize for recognizing you two with the random girl? The balloons are fantastic. I love Noah's Ark. Your picture taking is superb. I don't think too many people would have been able to capture the cow's udders as you clearly as you did.
ReplyDeleteI wish we had a balloon festival in Boston Common.
I think of the pics I took the only one that didn't go up was the cow...all of these special shapes are really big, but the cow is HUGE and conditions have to be optimum for thta to take flight.
ReplyDeleteArlene, you got it! So, yes, you win! haha
Deb, it was great seeing you after all these years! And we are still holding out hope for a caravan!
Noah's Ark is my favorite as well as the witch. As much as the character ones are great I really love the colored, designed ones. They are so pretty. The pic near the beginning with all the balloons practically stacked on top of eachother is pretty scary. Now that I have had the wonderful experience of riding in one I could never go up on a day with all of these. Too scary. I am amazed that it is safe.
ReplyDeleteArlene is too funny. I am so glad Linda has become part of the blog. She's loving it.
Great pictures. Wish I was there. Where to now???
Love and miss you,
MArie
Marie, I wouldn't go up here either. Not only are they bumping into each other just trying to fill up, when you watch them in the air you swear some of them are going to crash into each other. And I am glad Arlene and Linda joined us also. We just got Amarillo, TX about an hour agao...here for 6 days.
ReplyDeleteHi, just read last three blogs trying to catch up!
ReplyDeleteThis bakery work is killing me!!!!!!
f(spelling), but not surprised that you remembered
Fr. O'Connor and Dad asking about the gospel.
I have a question for anyone, can you remember what Fr.O'Connor hated?????
Third blog: Once again great pictures. Didn't anything would come close to all those mountain scenes, these where pretty close.
I know...Father O'connor HATED pennies!!!! How pathetic, huh?! Like we had any choice of what our parents gave us!!! He was just lucky I gave it to him at all...should have spent it on penny candy!!! haha
ReplyDeleteAlong with hating PENNIES, do you remember him calling us MORONS? As I'm typing this a thought came to mind....maybe he was calling us "Mormons". Also, he obviously was not preaching the Gospel when he yelled about pennies because we all know about the lady in the Gospel that gave everything she had which was a "penny". The bottom line is "pennies" would not pay for his Cadillac's and cuban cigars. Do you remember those "Monsignor necessities"? However, do you remember him coming around at Christmas and giving us all those nice little boxes of hard candy? Obviously Msgr. O'Connor made a lasting impression on all of us if we can still remember him decades after he has gone home to his eternal rest, may he rest in peace with "pennies from heaven".
ReplyDeleteI absolutely loved those boxes of hard candy....I love that kind of candy to this day, as my thighs can attest to!
ReplyDeleteI loved the penquin, and the octopus the most. I liked how the policemen rode their horses.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE THE OCTOPUS. i LOVE THE BASEBALL PLAYER TOO. mISS YOU.
ReplyDeletelOVE, eMILY
jack says;
ReplyDeleteLove you.
My favorite is the cactus.
I would have a hard time picking my favorite...I loved them all!
ReplyDelete