Blah-ditty-blah

well, it was that time of year again. . . BALLOON FIESTA. and jared and i decided to sleep an extra hour and got stuck in tons of traffic because of it. something to keep in mind next time. . . get there EARLY. . . . it's better. anyway, after some really annoyingly diverted traffic, we got there in time to see the last hundred or so launch, including some great special shapes.

here was our ascent onto the field. . .

you can kinda see the profile of the bees. . . my favorites. . . blowing up.

then there was a shaped supposedly based on findings that the incan civilization may have launched balloons. . .

one of the better ones. . and most clever ideas. . . a space shutter balloon. . actually larger than the real thing. . .

old mac donald's barn. . .

the brazillians apparently had a several new special shapes entries.. . and here was one. . . a squirrel. . .

here you can see one of the bees and the squirrel as they float out to catch up with all the rest. the two bees launch in perfect synch, turning and moving upwards like a set of olympic synchro swimmers. . . i got a movie, but don't know how to launch it here. . .

here's a little pirate boy with cat in a barrel. . .

a scarecrow. . .

chilli peppers. . . no new mexico event would be complete without some!. . .

a single manned swing balloon thing. . .

and this is one for my brother. . .i'm pretty sure it is his favorite beer. . .

and finally. . . someone who seems to have attended MANY of these. . .

so even though we were late. . . it was again. . TOTALLY worth it!