Special Shapes Rodeo

The Thursday morning in Albuquerque was the 'Special Shapes Rodeo'. It had rained overnight, but the sky was partly clear, although there was a huge cloud mass hanging over the mountains to the east. We again took Efreet and Bonnie out with us, as the others watched from the RV. 

The first row of balloons was already inflating as we got out there....

Efreet went over to watch them inflate Darth Vadar and Yoda....

There were all manner of wonderful shapes - many we'd never seen before.....

The sun finally came out, and what a difference that made!

A sky full of balloons...

The air currents here in Albuquerque are very unique, and perfect for hot air balloons. Winds at ground level go south, so all the balloons head south as they rise. But then at a bit higher elevation the wind reverses and blows north, so as the balloons rise higher, they float back over the field in a northerly direction. It's called "the box" and allows the balloons to keep passing back and forth overhead. In fact after most of the balloons had taken off, several started coming back in for a landing from the north.

We loved it all so much that we decided to stay for the evening 'Special Shapes Glow-deo', where the balloons are inflated, and tethered, and their burners make them light up. But the hurricane effects moved in, and we had intermittent storms all afternoon. By evening it cleared momentarily, and there was a green flag flying, but then another shower passed through, and the whole thing was cancelled. The crowds were so disappointed.

On a positive note - we did finally get to discover what lies at the end of the rainbow....