The Russell Family: Balloon Fiesta, Albuquerqe, NM

October 2009, was fun for the Russell's. We started our adventure heading to New Mexico for the Balloon Fiesta. We started on the road headed towards Globe, where we saw an "Estate Sale" sign. If you know us, you know we are Yard Sale Suckas .... but, all I need to do is remind you that we got our complete Wii Rockband set for $15 bucks and you'll recall that when you take time to dig, you find cool stuff. ha..ha... Unfortunately, this particular "estate sale" wasn't quite as fab. We decided to turn back to check it out. Why not, we had plenty of time and we were on vacation. So, wander we did ... as we got further into the area, following signs, we joked that the "estate sale" sign may have been a bit misleading. ha..ha... We finally arrived at the destination. Found a family who was clearing out their recently deceased mother's mobile home and I mean EVERYTHING. (including some things they brought from their own estate). If you were looking for anything vintage (and I use the term loosely) it was there. I was, however, fascinated by the old school ice trays .... the kind you have to crack loose with the handle across the top. :) We left with one thing. A faux animal print wrap/cape. It cost a quarter and I thought hey, Halloween is coming, and this is just funky enough that someone might want to use it. Alas, Halloween came and went. So did the cape.

Off went went, headed towards Eager, AZ. Made a quick pit-stop at the Hon-Da casino and then back on the road. We made it to Eager around lunch time.... and noticed the streets seemed to be blocked off. We opted for the drive-thru somewhere and discovered it was the Homecoming Parade. We jumped back on the road and had to get clever trying to outrun the police who were blocking off all the small streets to the main road... foiled a few times, we finally just made it. While small town Homecoming Parades are great, we just didn't want to lose the hours on the road. We probably had another 4-5 hrs to go.

Smooth sailing the rest of the way ... with a great stop at some picturesque place where people enjoy hiking, etc. Jon can tell you where it was, but he's not here and I've got no earthy idea, so when you get to the photos, the early ones are of this particular unnamed location. LOL. A few more hours on the road another couple of quick stops and eventually, we made out way into Albuquerque and finally to the beautiful Rio Rancho home of friends, the Savages. They were so awesome to offer to have us stay and truly, it made the trip. We'd not seen them since out days in Philly and it was fun to see them and catch up after a couple of years.

Saturday morning we were up early and got the boys dressed in layers ... PJ's, and then long sleeve shirts and pants .... and sweatshirts and coats. It was like 6 degrees .... too cold for the AZ folks. ha.ha.... We got to the park-n-ride place and realized that Campbell didn't have shoes. we debated for a moment on needs (hey, he was wearing socks.) but, Jon quickly drove back to the house to retrieve them while the boys and I got in line for the buses. The lines quickly disappeared and he were waiting .... only to discover that we were now waiting and the bus in front of us was the last. hmmmmm..... Thankfully, they gave us 5 min and luckily, Jon appeared in the nick of time.

Finally, we were on our way. Ian has been talking about the balloons constantly, and the fact that we were taking a school bus to the venue only increased his excitement by a thousand percent. We arrived and were amazed at just how many balloons we saw. Many in the air and many more still on the ground being prepared for lift-off. hundreds. I want to say 500 -700 More than I could have imagined seeing. The event takes a mid-day break and re-opens for the evening lift-off. Unfortunately, the winds were too strong for the evening launch, but the fireworks show didn't disappoint. It was a great day! You can imagine the hundreds of photos that were taken that weekend .... luckily, you only have to suffer through a small portion of them, if you choose. :)

A big thank you to our friends, the Savage's. They were truly on of the very best parts of our adventure. if you've ever wanted to attend the Fiesta, start planning! It's an amazing great time, we will go again, for sure! The 2010 event will be held October 2nd -10th so mark your calendars!!