06 Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta Weekend

WE CAME! WE SAW! WE CONQUERED!

Perhaps that’s a bit over the top. Let me explain.

Last weekend Cindy & I joined 5 other couples (great friends from Wisconsin) in northern New Mexico for a fun-filled and very busy weekend. Some months ago I put out an invitation for people to come to Albuquerque for the International Balloon Fiesta. Lo and behold these five couples were able to make it come together and so plans were made.

Cindy & I drove up on Wednesday after work to meet everyone. We knew things were going to be interesting when we decided to check into our hotel ahead of time so we could get rid of our stuff before picking some of them up. We arrived at The Extended Stay Hotel only to find that instead of having 6 rooms available for our party they had 2. The poor woman at the counter didn’t know what to do. We had reserved 6 rooms, they had 2 and everyone would be there very shortly. The hotel had over-booked. Honestly I had never heard of that practice before then. Airlines overbook but hotels? She kept staring at the computer screen hoping I believe that the other rooms would miraculously show up or until the very unhappy couple standing in front of her would go away. After making it very clear to her that she had better fix things she found 4 rooms across the street at a hotel that was willing to give us 4 rooms at the same rate she was going to give us.

Before leaving for the airport to get our friends she assured us that those 2 rooms would be there for us so we rushed across the street to confirm the 4 other rooms. Finding everything in order we went to the airport. I should give you a few additional facts: 1 – our friends were not arriving until about 11pm and 2 - the International Balloon Fiesta draws thousands of people in from all over the world. Hotels all across the city and even outlying areas are booked months in advance.

After leaving Milwaukee together they arrived without incident at the airport. We told them about the foul up but assured them we had things covered. Upon arriving at our hotel we got a phone call from the 2 couples across the street. Their 2 rooms were given away and the office was closed for the night. Not a soul was stirring. So we invited them over to our hotel and a few of us had roommates for the night.

This was not a very good way to start things off.

The next morning we regrouped over breakfast and decided our course of action. We were staying in Santa Fe for the night so off we drove. After checking into that hotel first thing we broke into two groups. One van filled with the guys went to Bandelier National Monument to see the cliff dwellings while the other van filled the women went to Jackalope (a huge “everything southwest” store) and all around the plaza downtown. We all had a great time.

We are sniffing the Ponderosa pine for a reason - a mature tree particularly smells sweet since it produces a substance called vanillan which of course is the flavor we know as vanilla. We learned something new.

That evening we met up at the Cowgirl Hall of Fame Bar and Grill to eat. It was a great time. I don’t have any pictures from this time so I’ll include one from a previous outing. We had a table out on the patio where we spent three hours laughing and eating great food. Everyone came away from the weekend saying that was one of the highlights.

After a good nights sleep (without additional roommates mind you) we met to plan our next expedition this time in the Albuquerque area.

First we hit the tram up to the top of Sandia Peak on the edge of town where we could see for miles in every direction. It was also about 40 degrees up there. It was really awesome. You’ll see by the pictures. God did good!


After looking around, hiking and eating lunch up there we headed for Old Town Albuquerque which is one of our favorite places. It is a plaza that developed around the old Spanish mission church. It has shops both upscale and otherwise and restaurants to see and experience. It is definitely a must see if you get to Albuquerque. At dinner in the La Hacienda there was more laughing and great food.

So far the weather had been cooperative but rain was definitely coming our way. Remember that our main reason for coming together was to witness the mass balloon launch which was to take place the next morning at 7am. There was a real question as to if it was going to happen.

We got up early and were out of the hotel at 5:30 am. We joined hundreds of other cars that were all heading to the fiesta grounds while it drizzled. It seemed to take forever but we finally got there before 7 am. Well, it was still drizzling but we paid for parking and admission and went and stood in the rain waiting to hear some good news. It came! The balloons would launch since a clearing was coming. It was then that everyone scattered. Some went to sit and watch off to the side while others got down on the field among the balloons. About 45 minutes after that announcement the balloons started to launch. It wasn’t a bright sunny morning but they still got off the ground. As each balloon launched a cheer would go up from the crowd. Only about 200 balloons launched that morning. The wind came up and many balloons that were nearly ready to go were told to stand down and it was all over. The Sunday launch was canceled so it was really lucky we were there when we were.


Well our weekend was nearly over now. We went back down to Old Town, went out to dinner at a great place (a Brazilian restaurant) where they have big charcoal pits over which various cuts of meat roast. It was great food once again.

The next morning I drove with our friends to the airport and had to say goodbye yet again to dear friends. Why is that always so hard?

Our group adventure was over and boy were we tired. I hope our friends managed to sleep on the plane because Monday and work were right around the corner.