The official balloon of the Fiesta. After this opening ceremony balloon is launched, then the 700 balloonists from around the world can take to the skies.
Early morning (6:30 a.m.) sunrise over the Sandia Mountains on the opening day.
Alpenlite RV Row. This was the first row in the municipal RV parking lot. Our RV is the one with the covered bikes on the rear hitch. We had the Sandia Mountains to the East, and the Balloon field a half mile in front of us. Below are the first two balloons aloft. Each morning, from our RV area, we could see balloons taking off and landing during a two hour period.
The all volunteer safety, search and rescue patrol on their daily rounds.
In the mornings, after rounds the patrol stops at our tent for breakfast. Even the horses get a treat. We were told that one morning when they started there rounds around 5:30 a.m., when we were all still sleeping, they were going by our empty tent, and the horses just made a left turn into our tent for a "morning treat". They know where to stop!
The horses are specially trained to be calm around crowds, traffic, fireworks, the sound of gas filling the balloons, etc. The are also used for search and rescue in the nearby mountains.
