Journeys›Photograph

Balloon Fiesta Morning Outside Albuquerque

·New Mexico, United States·#travel#autumn#hot-air-balloons#new-mexico#albuquerque
Dramatic orange and yellow sunset with dark clouds above silhouetted buildings and mountains.

Woke early at the resort north of Albuquerque for the Balloon Fiesta, and the sky did the first part of the work on its own — orange behind the adobe towers, then the sun clearing the ridge by the Sandias while the lawn below was still in shadow. Before we'd even left, the first balloons showed up over the cottonwoods along the river, a few dozen dark shapes drifting our way from the launch field miles south.

The drive down I-25 turned into the main event. The Mass Ascension was in full swing as we passed Balloon Fiesta Park, hundreds of balloons coming off the field in waves — nearly 600 fly over the course of the week, which is hard to square with the fact that this whole thing started in 1972 with thirteen balloons launching from a mall parking lot. The special shapes were the ones you could pick out from the car: a yellow smiley face, a red one with JACK printed on the side, something wearing a hat. They kept crossing the power lines low over the highway, and traffic in both directions was in no hurry at all.

A vibrant sunset with orange and pink clouds over a desert landscape featuring distant mountains and a resort.A vivid sunset illuminates dark clouds and a landscape with silhouetted trees and buildings in the foreground.Many hot air balloons float in a sky with dark clouds above a golden horizon and a distant tree line.A sunset casts bright light over a green lawn, dirt paths, fields, trees, and distant mountains under cloudy skies.Hundreds of hot air balloons float across a cloudy, gradient sky above a distant landscape.Many colorful hot air balloons ascend into a partly cloudy sky above a multi-lane highway with vehicles.Many colorful hot air balloons fill a cloudy sky above power lines, a highway, and a natural landscape.A vast number of hot air balloons ascend into a cloudy sky over a highway and distant arid land.

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