Journeys›Photograph

Balloon Fiesta from the Sandoval County Side

·Sandoval County, New Mexico·#travel#autumn#hot-air-balloons#new-mexico#albuquerque#balloon-fiesta
A vibrant sunset with orange and pink clouds above dark silhouettes of adobe buildings and mountains.

In New Mexico for a few days for the Balloon Fiesta, staying north of Albuquerque in Sandoval County, where the hotel is all adobe walls and the Sandias sit across the bosque. The sky went orange behind the rooflines around sunrise, and by the time we were outside the first balloons were already up — a few dozen dark shapes drifting over the cottonwoods along the river, too far off to make out any color.

The closer view came on the drive down I-25. Balloon Fiesta Park sits just west of the interstate, 360 acres of launch field, and the mass ascension put what must have been hundreds of balloons over and around the highway — a smiley face, a cowboy boot, something shaped like a bell, one that looked like a monster from a kids' movie. Balloons under the power lines, balloons up in the clouds, more still inflating on the field. The exit sign for the park had a stack of six hanging directly above it.

A vibrant sunset with orange and purple clouds over adobe buildings and distant mountains.Golden sunset beams through trees over mountains, with dark clouds filling the sky above.Many hot air balloons dot a golden sunset sky with dark clouds over a treeline and field.Distant mountains beneath a colorful cloudy sky, overlooking fields, a winding path, and a green lawn at sunset.Numerous colorful hot air balloons float among power lines in a cloudy sky above a desert landscape and a road.Hundreds of colorful hot air balloons float in a cloudy sky above a highway and distant landscape.Many colorful hot air balloons float in a cloudy blue sky above a highway with an "EXIT 35 MPH" sign.Hundreds of colorful hot air balloons float across a cloudy blue sky above a highway and distant landscape.

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