Oh my...............woke up to another gorgeous day, but nippy at 39 with a high of 66 coming after 3 days of 80. We turned on the TV to watch the fiesta happenings and lo and behold, there was no mass ascension today (last day) because of the winds (nothing yesterday and the balloons just hung up there and many were able to land right back on the field versus miles away). But it was so awesome for those of us on the ground. And then today, nothing!
A few were inflated but stayed tethered to the ground. The winds were only 6 mph, but they had difficulty even blowing in the cold air with large fan cause of the wind.
This was a near-perfect weather week for the fiesta - first one since 1996 when it went off without a hitch. That had been the case till this morning and apparently, not all went off last night with the after-flow. Each day starts with the national anthem and ends in the evening with fireworks.
Because of the large crowds and not wanting to disappoint, they did inflate 6 balloons but there were 8 people holding on for dear life to keep from going up....oh my!
20 law enforcement agencies were helping at the balloon fiesta! 8 countries were represented to broadcast the week-long balloon happenings back to their country.
Just a few of many "Rainbow Ryder" balloons which give rides
($400-500 and all the way to $800 - choke, choke)
We always use masstimes.org to choose the closest church near wherever we are and see what time is best. Today was a bit challenging as several were only Spanish Masses. We did find one 7 miles away, St. Joseph on the Rio Grande that was a fairly new church, great priest (he's 65 tomorrow) and wonderful choir. As we were walking into church with a lady asking where we were from and if we had been to the balloon fest, we talked about the winds that cancelled the launch this morning. She said she heard about all the people who were turned away yesterday (crowds were huge) because of no where to park! My oh my....
After church we stopped at Wal Mart for a few things and then to Starbucks (had a maple pecan latte for 1st time....delish). Just drove around on this gorgeous day....
Later we stopped at Route 66 New Mexican Family Café on the outskirts of town - nothing fancy, but got good reviews and the food and prices were outstanding. Mark and I both love the sopapillas either stuffed or eat plan with his enchilada. LOVE Mexican food and planning to get our fill while in the southwest!
Back to Daisy around 2:30, opened all the windows to let all this fresh air in! We unhooked the bikes from Toad and rode up and down 11 long streets here in the park on paved roads. Even visited with owner of Lazy Daze from Utah who had worked at the balloon fest.
Tomorrow we are off to Las Cruces...
Tomorrow we are off to Las Cruces...
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