Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, New Mexico - October 7th to 14th, 2023

We were nearing the end of our Season Five travels and considered the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta the grand finale of our trip. We have heard so many great things about the Balloon Fiesta and wanted to experience it for ourselves. This post covers just the Fiesta. Our next post will cover other things that we did and saw in Albuquerque while we were there.

Saturday we drove down to the Balloon Fiesta from Santa Fe. Before we left the Santa Fe KOA, we dumped our black and gray tanks along with filling our fresh tank to 95% full. That’s more than we’ve put in our fresh tank all season except for when we first left home. We’ve been keeping it under 75% full in order to make sure we are under our vehicle weight limit. We also plugged into shore power Friday night to make sure our batteries were full. We’ll be parked in the South RV Lot at the Fiesta for eight straight nights. We’re hoping we’ll make it that long without running out of resources. There are port-a-potties available along with a dump and fill service which costs $30 for each dump or fill. That seems like a lot of money to pay for dumping a 5 gallon cassette toilet, so we’re trying to avoid that. Keith also purchased a portable solar panel (paid link) in case our batteries get low. However, the weather forecast calls for sunshine all week, so we should be fine without it.

It was only a one hour drive, so we arrived at the South RV Lot around 12:30 pm. We were surprised to see the lot was mostly full, since Saturday was the first day of the festival. You can reserve a spot for nights prior to the festival at half price, as early as the Monday before the festival. Evidently, most people arrive on Thursday or Friday, instead of Saturday like us. Because RV’s are placed as they arrive, we got a spot near the far end of the South RV Lot. Our site was not very level, but we made it work. Looking around, there are a lot of uneven sites, so come prepared. We blocked up one corner four inches, another corner three inches and a third corner an inch and a half. That still left us with an inch and a half lean to the passenger side.

We met several of the campers around us. They were volunteer workers and had been there already for about a week. In exchange for volunteering, they get into the Fiesta for free. We had to pay $15 per person per session. There are two sessions for most days, a morning session and an evening session. The Balloon Fiesta Park was a little over a mile from our camping spot. After having lunch, we walked over to the park for the evening session. It was about a 25 minute walk. We arrived just before they opened the gates at 3 pm.

We strolled the Main Street of the Fiesta, lined with food and merchandise booths along with a couple of entertainment stages. It had a very state fair feel to it, with similar food options. Since not much was scheduled until 4 pm, we decided to grab an early dinner. We found a booth selling Indonesian Satay, so we both had a combination plate. Then we found a grassy spot to set up our Crazy Creek stadium seats (paid link).

The schedule said there was the Great American Kite Show at 4 pm. There were a handful of kites that people started flying some time between 4 and 5 pm. Nothing very special. We were expecting more of a show.

Not much started happening until 5 pm. That was when six skydivers with flags and streamers jumped out of a plane and landed in the field before us.

The Gordon Bennett Gas Balloon Race was scheduled to launch at 6 pm. However, there was a delay and only a few gas balloons had started to inflate by 6 pm. Most of the balloons at the Fiesta are hot air balloons, which get their lift from heating up the air inside the balloon with propane. Gas balloons are filled with hydrogen for their lift. For over 100 years, the Gordon Bennett Gas Balloon Race is the premiere gas balloon distance race in the world. The goal is to fly the furthest distance, non-stop, from the launch site. The race takes place in different locations around the world. It has not been held in the United States since 2008. The race can last up to four days, covering distances up to around 2000 miles.

While the gas balloons were inflating, hot air balloons also inflated for the Twilight Twinkle Glow at 6 pm. The gas balloons were roped off from the public in the center of the field, but you could walk among the hot air balloons. The evening glow is when the hot air balloons inflate, then burn their propane burners to illuminate the balloons. They alternated between an “all glow” and a “twinkle glow” which is just like it sounds. The all glow is when everyone turns on their burners at the same time for a brief moment. The twinkle glow is when they all pulse their burners on and off. It is a lovely spectacle after dark.

At 7:30 pm, there was another skydiving show. This time, the sky divers wore suits with LED lights on them, since it was after dark. They were planning on using pyrotechnics attached to their feet, but had to exclude that since the gas balloons were still on the ground below them.

At 7:45 pm, there was a drone light show. We had never seen one of these before. Unfortunately, the gas balloons blocked some of the show, but it was still amazing. A few hundred drones with programmable lights created moving pictures in the sky, synchronized to music. Very cool.

The gas balloons were then set to launch at 8:30 pm. We left the field at 8 pm, not wanting to stay out too late. The fireworks wouldn’t start until after the gas balloons launched. Our plan was to return early the next morning, waking up at 4 am and arriving at the field by 5 am. So we wanted to get to bed early. We were back at Red Tail (our Winnebago EKKO) by 8:30 pm. We could see the gas balloons launching in the distance. We heard the fireworks around 9:30 pm, but didn’t go outside to watch, even though we weren’t in bed until about 10:30 pm. We’ll have other evenings to catch the fireworks.

Sunday our alarms went off at 4 am. We made a run to the port-a-potty, grabbed our small daypacks, then started walking over to the park at 4:30 am. We didn’t get very far when a shuttle bus drove by and offered to pick us up. Sure, why not? There was a constant stream of free shuttle buses heading over to the entrance gate. We bought our tickets and were in the gates by 4:45 am. That meant we had an hour before the morning drone show.

There was plenty of time to wait in line for coffee and breakfast. Keith brought along a Dunkin’ Donuts coupon that we had received with our RV check-in packet, so that’s where we went. However, the Dunkin’ Donuts booth at the festival didn’t accept coupons. Oh well, Keith is a big fan of Dunkin’ coffee so that’s the place we probably would have gone anyway without a coupon, but you would think the festival check-in packet would contain coupons that would be valid at the event. Since Ann doesn’t like coffee, she got a hot chocolate and a muffin. Keith normally doesn’t eat breakfast, but Ann does and she skipped breakfast at Red Tail so she didn’t have to get up any earlier. It was chilly in the morning before sunrise. We both had a couple of layers on and still were a little cold.

There were a few picnic tables near Main Street, but, of course, they all were already taken. We brought our small Crazy Creek stadium seats with us, so we set them down on the grass and settled in to drink and eat our goodies. At 5:45 am, the drone show started. We thought it was going to be a different show than the night before, but it looked pretty much the same to us. However, this time the gas balloons were not there to block the view.

At 6 am, the Dawn Patrol launched. It is a group of ten balloons that launch to test out the winds at the different altitudes for the other balloonists.

At 7 am, the rest of the balloons started launching. Ann wandered out among the balloons as they were launching. It just seemed like a whirl of activity all around her, in every direction. As balloons rose up off the ground, they would reveal other balloons behind them. The sun rose up over the mountains, casting a wonderful light onto the colorful balloons. It seemed like it took about an hour or longer for all the balloons to launch. The sky was filled with hundreds of them. It was a beautiful sight to behold.

After Ann’s arms got tired of holding up her camera, she called Keith on the phone to figure out where he was. We managed to find each other again among the large mass of people and ground crews. We strolled Main Street again, waiting in line for a potty break, then decided to have an early lunch. Ann wanted to try Lotaburger’s green chili burger, but they only served their breakfast menu during the morning session. She opted for a Navajo taco instead. It was pretty tasty, spiced beef, beans, lettuce, tomatoes, and onions on fry bread along with chile. She opted for Christmas, both red and green chile, on her taco. Keith just had ribbon fries, similar to what we had at the Alaska State Fair the year before (Palmer, Alaska - August 22nd to 25th, 2022).

To help burn off some of those calories, we strolled along the car show which started at 9 am. We’re not really into cars, but we found some of the cars quite interesting. Then we walked back to Red Tail. We opted not to take the shuttle this time. More steps were needed for the day.

In the afternoon, Ann cooked up a pork roast in the Instant Pot (paid link) along with some liquid smoke so we could have pulled pork for dinner. Both of us took naps in the afternoon. Later, we took a stroll around the South RV Lot. The lot encircles a large field where many of the balloons like to land. There were several sections with group tours, such as Fantasy RV Tours, a group we were used to seeing last year on our Alaska trip. We were surprised to see so few port-a-potties. Outside of the ones roped off inside group tour areas, there were only about two or three in all of the South Lot. However, we never had to wait for more than one other person every time we wanted to use one. The pump trucks seemed to be doing a pretty brisk business dumping people’s black and gray tanks.

After dinner, we climbed up on Red Tail’s roof where we watched the skydivers, drone show, and fireworks. They were pretty far away and we were at the wrong angle for much of the drone show, but it was free (except for the cost of the RV site), so we can’t complain.

Monday we got up at 7 am. The Dawn Patrol was already up in the sky and the Mass Ascension had already begun. Ann ate her breakfast and Keith drank his coffee sitting outside, watching the balloons from next to Red Tail. After quickly finishing her food, Ann climbed back up onto the roof of our rig to take pictures as the sun rose up from behind the mountains.

Several balloons landed in the South Lot field. Ann had a great view from the rooftop to watch them land. The ground crews chased down the baskets to hold them down. Some of them deflated in the field, but others took off again. There were even a few balloons that inflated and took off from the field.

A handful of balloons went right over our heads. One balloon landed in a row among the RV’s. People pulled the basket over to the field where they had more room to deflate.

Most of the balloon baskets held about two to four people, but we saw a variety of sizes. Some were very large and rectangular, holding about a dozen people or so.

Then there were a couple of cloud hoppers, where one person hung from the ballon in the seated position, like in a chair or swing. One of them landed in the South Lot field. It was interesting to watch because there was no basket for the ground crew to grab. It looked like there was a rope that hung down below the pilot that a ground person grabbed and could help stabilize the ballon.

After the Mass Ascension, we went for a bike ride. We’ll cover that in our next blog post on Albuquerque.

Tuesday morning was a repeat of Monday. Got up at 7 am, ate breakfast quickly, climbed up on top of rig to watch the balloons. They seemed more spread out on Tuesday compared to Monday, but it was still a spectacular show.

Afterwards, we went for another bike ride. Again, we’ll cover that in our next blog post.

Wednesday morning, we changed our routine slightly. We still got up at 7 am and Ann ate her breakfast quickly. But, instead of climbing up on the roof of Red Tail, we carried our chairs over to the South Lot field. The view from the south side of the field was probably even better than from on top of our rig. The balloons put on quite a show. They seemed all bunched up together, with a lot of them landing in the field in front of us, all at the same time. There also seemed to be a target that some of the balloonists were trying to hit with a marker that they would throw down. We’re assuming that was part of the Fly In Competition. Then the winds seemed to shift and most of the balloons flew away from us in the opposite direction.

We spent most of the rest of the day at the Albuquerque Balloon Museum. Yup, you guessed it, we’ll cover that in our next post.

Our original plan was to attend the Thursday morning session, but the weather forecast called for wind. So we decided to go to Friday’s morning session instead. It turns out that was a good call. We got up at 7 am anyway to see if any balloons went up. They did not. Even though the winds had not yet started up near the ground, the cold front was already overhead and there were 50 mph winds up higher. Balloons normally don’t launch in winds greater than 12 mph. However, the wind down on the field was only 1 mph. That meant they could do a static display of the balloons. We couldn’t see them from the South RV Lot, but we were happy for the people who were attending. We met someone the day before at the museum who was on a short bus tour from Oklahoma. They were only attending the morning session and evening session on Thursday.

A couple of hours later, the winds picked up and were strong all day. We stayed inside our rig most of the day and walked to a restaurant for lunch.

Every now and then in the evening, we would pull up the Balloon Fiesta Live broadcast to check on the status of events. The sky divers did not jump in the evening due to the winds. The evening glow was also cancelled. We’re not certain, but we think the drone show was also cancelled. They did have fireworks that night. We could hear and see them from Red Tail.

It was Friday the 13th, but it was not an unlucky day for us. We were up at 4:30 am started walking over to the fiesta at 5:00 am, and were through security by 5:30 am. We walked the whole way this time instead of taking the shuttle. Ann ate a quick breakfast before we left the rig and took a mug of hot chocolate with her. Keith waited until we arrived at the field to get a cup of coffee from the Dunkin’ Donuts booth again. We didn’t have long to wait for the Dawn Patrol to launch at 6 am.. There was an Air Force flyover as the balloons started to take off.

It was such a calm day, that the balloons mostly hung over the field. It was an impressive sight. The Special Shape Rodeo started at 7 am. Some of the special shapes launched while others did a static display. Because the winds were light, some of the shapes took off, then landed again back onto the field. There were so many cool shapes.

There was also another Fly In Competition. There was a large area on the field set up for the competition, with target areas and poles. If a balloonist could drop a ring onto one of the poles, they received $2000 in prize money. We stood at the edge of the competition area for a little while, watching the balloonists dropping markers and trying to ring the poles. There was a handful of successful attempts.

The small remote control balloons were active at the north end of the field. There were a few more of them than the previous Sunday morning. The balloons stay tethered to the ground, and the propane heaters are controlled via remotes. Most of the small, little baskets were carrying stuffed animals. They were so cute.

Also at the far north end of the field were several chainsaw carvers demonstrating their skill. It is incredible what they are able to create with a chainsaw. There was an area with many of their art pieces on display, from small sculptures, to benches, to a full bar with bar stools. Several pieces were auctioned off at 10 am, but we didn’t stick around that long.

On our way out, we swung by the sand sculpture to see its progress. We saw it at the beginning, back on Sunday, but it wasn’t very far along then. On Friday, there was a lot more completed and the artist was still busily working on it. We saw an interview with the artist on the Balloon Fiesta Live broadcast. They asked him when the sculpture would be finished. His response was “Art is never finished, only abandoned”.

In the afternoon, we went for another bike ride. Yes, it will be covered in our next blog post.

Saturday started like most of the other days at the fiesta, getting up at 7 am to watch the balloons. After a quick breakfast, we carried our chairs over to the South Lot field again. The winds were stronger than most of the other days, but not too strong so the balloons were still able to launch. The wind quickly blew the balloons from Fiesta Park towards us and beyond, scattering them out. Several of them landed in the South Lot field, but they came in fast. Some of them landed pretty hard. We watched one get dragged through some small trees and bushes. People ran out into the field to help. It was nice to see the young kids helping fold up the balloons. They were having a great time.

Before all the balloons had landed, it was solar eclipse time. Yes, you are catching on, we’ll cover that in the next post.

We started walking over to Fiesta Park at 3:45 pm for the evening session of activities. The lines for tickets and getting through security were short, so we were inside by 4:15 pm. That gave us plenty of time to get a couple of Lotaburgers. Ann had the New Mexico style, with green chili, while Keith had the regular burger. Lotaburger is a fast food chain restaurant. We’ve seen plenty of them around, but never stopped at one to try them. The burgers were decent for fast food, but we enjoyed the chili burgers at the Oak Tree Cafe better. Oak Tree Cafe is not fast food, so it probably isn’t fair to compare the two.

To complete our meal, we both got some ribbon fries. If you’ve never had them before, they are a whole potato thinly cut in a spiral and deep fried. They are more like homemade potato chips than fries. Probably not the healthiest of food, but tasty.

The skydivers jumped at 5 pm. We saw the skydivers on the previous Saturday, but they didn’t use the pyrotechnics because of the gas balloons on the field. So it was nice to see the full show this time.

The balloons started inflating at 6 pm. This time we walked around the field as they were inflating and also during the glow. It was nice to watch them inflate while there was still some daylight. At 7:30 pm, there was another skydiving show, complete with pyrotechnics.

The drone show followed at 7:45 pm. This was the only part of the evening that felt the same as the first evening session we attended. However, the drone show is still really cool to witness.

The fireworks started at 8 pm. We had seen the fireworks from the South Lot, but this was the first time we witnessed them close up. They were pretty impressive. What a way to end our time at the Fiesta.

Did the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta live up to all the hype? Yes, it most certainly did. However, we felt we had pretty good weather. We know other years have not been so lucky. It is hard to convey the scale and magnitude of the Fiesta in words, pictures, and videos, but we hope we’ve given you a good taste. The Fiesta is a sensory overload for the eyes, with an ever changing view of colors and shapes, especially during the Mass Ascension. Despite the large mass of people and balloons, it also feels very intimate, as you can wander among the balloons on the field as they are inflating, glowing, and taking off. The Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta should be on most people’s bucket list. We can now check it off of ours.

Check out our related video: Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, New Mexico

(Ann)