Spirit of Fiesta

International Balloon Museum

Flowers and globe in the courtyard of the museum

Back of the museum, notice that the building is shaped like a balloon

Entrance to the Balloon field

Map of the park - the grey on the near side represents concession stands. We took full advantage of the wonder breakfast burritos served and many locations.

Concessions row

The field - just a big expanse of green

These two pictures are satellite shots from the internet

White square indicates the balloon field

RV park - white square indicates our camper location

There was lots of action at our campground

These RVers were probably a little nervous!

First the envelope gets laid out on the ground or on a piece of tarp - to keep it dry

This is Uncle Sam

Using the propane burner to heat up the envelope

Uncle Sam is nearly ready to go

Balloon just removed from its storage bag

Demonstration of the propane burner at our campground - they are really noisy

Heating up the envelope

Inside the envelope of Ultra World

Outside

And Inside

A Zebra directing traffic - because spectators are allowed on the field, whenever a balloon is about to take off the Zebras clear the path so no one gets hit by a rising balloon - they don't go straight up but often skim along just above the ground.

Two Zebras consulting

Gale and the Zebras

Ground crew for Airabelle

The balloons are grouped in rows around numbered pylons. These are quite close together, as you can see below. It is an impressive sight to see all of these balloons being inflated practically on top of each other. After inflation, they are released to ascend, often several at the same time in any given row.

           Before dawn and after dusk, they hold what are called "glows" where the propane burners are turned on and the balloons glow from within. A spectacular sight.

Intel New Mexico up in the early morning

Krispy Kreme sponsors the morning glow

           On the first Saturday night we went to the "glow" and fireworks. In addition, the Fiesta sponsors a Gas Balloon competition to see who can fly the greatest distance on one envelope of gas - helium or hydrogen. These balloons were being inflated during the fireworks (interesting, considering how flammable helium is) and took off a little later in the evening. This year's winners (there are two people in each balloon) came down near Minot, ND, 1570 miles away.

Gas balloons

Fireworks and gas balloons

Fireworks and gas balloons

          Once the balloons are in the air, the scene is truly spectacular! On one of my pictures I gave up counting at 114 balloons within the field of the camera's view.

Lady Joker on the way up

Balloons do occasionally "kiss" in flight

Blasting away

The Albuquerque Box (see below) - here the winds are blowing toward the south at the lower altitude

         (Copied from Wikipedia on the Internet) Part of the reason for the success of the Fiesta are the cool Albuquerque morning temperatures in October and the Albuquerque box. The "box" is a set of predictable wind patterns that can be exploited to navigate the balloons. At low elevations the winds tend to be southerly (from the south), but at higher elevations they tend to be northerly. Balloonists use these winds to navigate in a vertical box: they ascend slightly from the launch park, move south, ascend further, move north, descend, and repeat the box or land back in the launch park or quite nearby. During events involving on-field targets, such as the "Key Grab" (where pilots attempt to grab prizes, including a set of keys to a new vehicle, from atop tall, flexible poles), it's not uncommon to see the same balloon make 5 or 6 passes at the targets, simply by working the "Box" to keep returning to the field.