Albuquerque Balloon Festival – Day Three

Here is an interesting fact … Schools in Albuquerque close for the balloon festival period and all the school buses are deployed to the campgrounds and festival grounds to move people around.

So moving on to today, we arrived at the festival grounds at 5:45 a.m. and were able to watch the morning Dawn Patrol. The Dawn Patrol is a choreograph event that is set to music and it’s purpose is to check out the wind speeds and conditions for the mass ascension of balloons.

There was a brief delay in the Mass Ascension ascend due to wind conditions but before long the sky was once again filled with balloons.

Dos Equis, Albuquerque, New Mexico … this one’s for you Tom ☺

Dottie Chicken, Boitva, Sao Paulo, Brazil

There were also some close calls this morning!

True-Lee New Mexico, Gallup, New Mexico

Baby Lente, from Destelbergen, Oost-Vlaaderen, Belgium

Seasons, from Cordele, Georgia

Ham-Let, DeLand, Florida

On the left is Puddles The Penguin from Thatcham, Berkshire, United Kingdom, Tall Steve is in the middle from Breadstone, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom, and on the right is Splash from Wasilla, Alaska.

In The Buff, Lubbock, Texas

The Journey, Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Les Monarques, Montreal, Quebec

Tom Cat, Oak Island, North Carolina

Gloria Caeli, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Hyla The Frog, North Muskham, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom

I love this balloon but I wasn’t able to find any information on it.

Smokey The Bear, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Tolfy, Han-sur-Lesse, Belgium

Flying Gator, Boitva, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Nitrofish, Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil

I introduced Joey and Joelly yesterday but I neglected to introduce Lilly Little Bee who is on the right.

Darth Varder, Court-Saint-Etienne, Belguim

Until next time …