Blah-ditty-blah

then there was sunday. jared, the new roommie, and i were up to leave the apartment at 4:45am. crazy you say? or perhaps miraculous. . . that we would get up so early on a weekend, either way, we discovered it was well worth it.

we were up to get to the dawn patrol for BALLOON FIESTA. getting up so early was lame, and traffic was lame, and even the dawn patrol wasn't exactly what we thought it would be, but once the sun crept over the sandia, the amazement began.

a whole field packed tightly with balloonists. . . starting from two opposite ends, around 7am, the balloons started to swell.


the line up was really impressive. they were so tightly packed, but the only thing that seemed to bother lift off was the wind. there were quite a few balloons that didn't make it, including a jack daniels bottle, a stage coach, and a large cow, which was kind of disappointing. . . but maybe we'll get to see them next weekend at another event.

this was the morning mass ascension. . . each year they try for 1000 balloons, but come closer to about 750. we never heard how many went up that morning. . . but the balloons lifted off almost continuously from 7am to 11am. i want to get some video of this up as well. . but for the time being. . . some simple shots will have to suffice. . .

here's jared. . .
and here's me, with some random people. . .

there used to be a special rodeo for the specialty shaped balloons, but they've turned that into an evening of lit balloons and fireworks. . . dan. . . are you sure you don't wanna delay toronto and get out here for this weekend?. . . .hmmmm?. . . . lit balloons, and fireworks!

i digress. . . . specialty shapes. . . . here are a few . . .

pigs will fly

the fish is named sushi!

elephants fly as well

the bees were sooooo cute!

just ducky. . .

how about that phone booth?

this was pretty amazing. . .

humpty dumpty didn't fall

last but not least. . . who could resist a pirate. . . ARG!

so the balloons were really amazing. . . colorful, and i wish i had more room for more pictures. . .ok, one more that i thought was simple, but clever. . .


but there was festival food-including a fry what booth where we may go back to try the fried cheescake. . . just for posterity, and we did see a quick fly-by of the stealth craft as part of the air show that we didn't really stay for. but there were a couple other sites that really need a quick mention. . .

first off, the spammobile. . .where they were giving out free samples of spam! i kinda figured that the sample would have to be free. :)


and what fiesta would be complete without. . . you guessed it. . . pottypalooza. . . even though it was temporarily shut down. . .



anyway. . . that was sunday. . . and i hope to have shots next week of the lit balloons at night and fireworks. have a nice day!



"and we'll be saying a big hello to all intelligent life forms everywhere . . .and to everyone else out there, the secret is to bang the rocks together, guys."