Albuquerque Balloon Festival

Picture left to right, Kimberly (Dave's sister), Ghada, Stephen, Dave, Kami, Kerry

Our host for this event was Dave and Ghada Culler. Dave moved to Albuquerque in 1973 (balloon festival started in 1972) and went to New Mexico University (home of the Los Lobos) before he started his career in the Navy. Needless to say, we had the inside scoop on everything concerning the city and festival.

This stop was discussed while planning the trip last February. Kami and I tried to book a RV spot but all were sold out within an hour. We heard the system crashed from the number of people trying. Well, in discussion with Dave and Ghada, we were able to meet them there and park the travel trailer in Dave's moms house 😊. We were happy to be there with our good friends!

First question that needs to be answered in Albuquerque is do you want red or green. Red and green chiles are part of just about every meal available right down to the local burger place (New Mexican Burger). I can't say Tex/Mex, Dave said I would offend the locals, but the term would be New Mexican food. If you like authentic Mexican, you can get your fill here. We even had fried green chile strip appetizer with sauce that was slightly spicy and delicious! Kami's favorite are Chile Rellenos and she ordered them twice while here.

One of the restaurants Dave took us to was El Pinto (picture above) that he used to go with his family growing up. The place was busy (probably more so because of the festival). So when you're at a Mexican restaurant you have to order Margaritas, right? I wanted to get one for the ladies and when requesting them the bartender asked me if I wanted to add red or green chile liquor........even the margaritas have chiles. They were slightly spicy and very flavorful.

I haven't discussed the weather yet but the temperature was comfortably in the 70's during the day and 50's at night. Perfect weather for 50th Balloon Festival. We left the house at 4:30 am to see the morning glow. You have to be there for this part. The glow from the balloons filling with propane gas is a sight completely different before the sunrise. The field is huge and needed to accommodate the number of participants (20 were from other countries). I was amazed they allow you to be right in the middle of it all. Literally standing by the gondola or right up against the balloon as they fill it with gas. They lined up in rows and would take off. As that row lifted there was another group behind them setting up their balloons. The pics don't do justice to the morning sky with the number of balloons. Need a special camera to capture the whole sky from end to end of the field. We were laughing at how much our necks hurt straining to see everything in the sky. We couldn't get enough pictures when Dave finally said, "Need to stop taking pictures for a minute and take it all in". That was the moment I truly appreciated what I was seeing.

The light show before the Dawn Patrol liftoff was done all with drones....pretty cool.

Dawn Patrol (first liftoff of festival) getting ready!

It was amazing we could get right up on the balloons while they were being filled.

Below, Sandia Mountain Range in the background. Albuquerque is butt up against it.

I wished I was prepared to get the picture with all of them filling the balloons with propane (got a few). Early morning is spectacular with seeing the balloons lit up.

Below is another group coming in after the Dawn Patrol lift off rolling out their balloons and setting up gondolas for liftoff. They didn't mess around.

Most of the gondolas were one to two person size. The festival was from Oct. 1st thru the 9th and you could sign up to go in one......if you dare!

Picture below shows the balloons starting to rev up and get in the sky.

Pigs really can fly!

Picture below gives no justice to the number of balloons in the sky. I couldn't get them all in!

There were lots of different images and sizes.......Yoda!

Picture below is towards the end of our morning.....we were there for 3 hours and they were still rolling! We got hungry and Dave took us to Frontier restaurant by UNM. Breakfast Burritos were delicious with side of pinto beans......Ola!

Dave took us to Santa Fe (about an hour North) to check out the changing leaves of the Aspen trees as well as the city center of shops, restaurants, and breweries. I will say, I didn't think much of New Mexico other than being between Arizona and Texas BUT this is a beautiful scenic state. Dave said Albuquerque has grown mainly from the Balloon Festival. People come to check it out and see the area and move here. I can see that.