The first day of our tour began with an early start, like a reeeaaaallllyyyy early start, since we were headed to the Balloon Fiesta! It was interesting to be able to compare and contrast my experiences of attending the festival on our own and with a tour, there are pros and cons to each. The main pro of going with a tour is the transportation was taken care of for us, which was the main issue we faced when we did it on our own. Our tour bus picked us up right outside of our hotel, and was able to drop us off at a special parking lot reserved for tour groups that is right inside the park, just a few steps away from the vendors and balloons, which was so convenient.
With the tour, they got us there before the fiesta started, so it was crazy early in the morning like around 5:30 am. So we had some time to kill before the balloons started flying. Luckily, the vendors were open so we could browse around the stores. This particular day was one of the coldest of my whole trip, so I was freezing. Last time I had gone to the festival, I had expected it to be super cold so I wore a ton of layers, and then it turned out to not really be that cold. So I didn't bother with the layers this time and even wore jeans with big holes in the knees, and I was dying from the cold. I headed straight for a vendor that was selling big, fleece blankets and bought a huge teal colored one, it's a really cute blanket, to wrap around me and protect me from the icy winds, it was a life savor! I used the blanket for the rest of the tour when we would have long bus rides, I would sit in the very back with my blanket and nap.
Another pro was we had access to the VIP tent, where we could go to warm up and get donuts and hot chocolate. Before we left the hotel, we were each given a boxed breakfast with a gourmet breakfast burrito, a few side items and a bottle of water, it was a really nice breakfast! But it was a little too early in the morning for me to have a big breakfast, so a donut and hot chocolate totally hit the spot for me. I saved my boxed breakfast for after the festival, and it was delicious.
Then it was time for the balloons to start flying! Since we were there so early, we got to see the dawn patrol. Dawn Patrol pilots take off in the dark and fly until it is light enough to see landing sites. Fellow balloonists appreciate the Dawn Patrol because they can watch the balloons and get an early idea of wind speeds and directions at different altitudes. On mass ascension days, about a dozen Dawn Patrol balloons perform the Dawn Patrol Show, a choreographed inflation and launch set to music that has been part of the Balloon Fiesta since 1996. Dawn Patrol inflations begin, weather permitting, at about 5:45 AM, with launch around 6:00 AM.
It was so cool seeing the Dawn Patrol balloons light up in the sky, their choreographed show was so fun to witness.
As the sun was starting to rise, the other balloonists got the OK to start blowing up their balloons. The balloonist teams would run out on to the field, securing good set up spots, and trying to get their balloons up as quickly as they could. There was a definite hustle vibe buzzing through the park, that added to the excitement of the fiesta. We had to watch where we stepped or decided to stand, because all around us giant rivers of fabric were being unfurled, and the balloonists wouldn't necessarily let you know ahead of time you were in the way, sometimes they just would work around you or wait for you to get the hint and move.
It was another mass ascension, so we watched as the sky was slowly filled with 500 balloons.
We were so excited when the sun finally rose and started warming up the day, we moved from different patches of sunlight to help keep us warm as we watched the balloons.
Mom and Dad were so cute all bundled up, they absolutely loved the fiesta, and were in awe of it's magic.
I was so relieved the weather cooperated and the balloons were able to fly that morning. One of the cons of seeing the fiesta with the tour is you have one chance to see the balloons fly, and if the weather doesn't work out, then you miss the entire fiesta. They also don't schedule any time to see any of the night time activities, so our specific tour was designed to give you more of just a taste of the fiesta. But we got a pretty good taste the morning we went! It was fabulous!
No comments:
Post a Comment