We don't want to hear any more complaints about getting the folks up at sunrise. The day (althought it looked like night) after we arrived here at American RV Park in Albuquerque, we heard the annoying beeping of the alarm clock at 4 AM. The folks and their friends had to get up in time to depart for the early morning balloon ascension, and you know how long it takes Mom to get ready.
From the photos Dad brought back , we could see it turned out to be a fantastic day, light winds and sunny skies, there were balloons everywhere you looked. There were lots of normal looking balloons, too, but the unusual shapes sometimes left you wondering "what the heck IS that?"
The folks returned late morning and hung out with us for the rest of the day, they seemed to be a bit lethargic after the early morning, not that we would let them nap. Mom made a batch of cranberry-pecan break and bake cookies - Ree could barely contain herself because the coach smelled like cinnamon the whole time. In the early evening they went back into Albuquerque to partake in some of the local New Mexican food and once again neglected to bring back a white box for us. We didn't even get a sopapilla! From the smell on their breath we could tell the food was spicy and - sniff, sniff - is that a margarita ?
The next day was spent visiting the Aquarium and Botanic garden. We reminded them the sun here in New Mexico is very bright even when it's not hot out, good thing they took the hint and put on sunblock and wore hats. The evening plan was to go back to the balloon park and see the evening glow, where the balloons stay tethered on the ground but are all inflated and lit by their burners. Unfortunately it was getting pretty breezy out so the folks being ever so analytical (read geeks) decided to pass since it seemed like there was a very good chance the even would be cancelled. There had also been a very sad balloon accident that morning that was possibly due to the wind, and they thought the festival organizers would probably err on the side of caution. Sure enough shortly after some of the other RVers left it was posted on the fest website that the evenings events were off. Well, except for the vendors. The professional shoppers in our group spent their evening looking at crafts and their partners took solace in things like corny dogs and smoked turkey legs. At least with the folks staying home, we got to have pizza crust. You just know they'd never bring us back fair food.
The next morning the wind was even stronger, a steady breeze of 25-30 miles and hour with big gusts that rocked the coach. Then the rain and thunder moved in and even some pea sized hail. We don't like when it hails since it's very loud in the coach so we all jumped on the couch to reassure the folks that everything was OK.
After the storms passed, Bentley helped Mom do some cooking,
Ree continued to work on her Mexican train strategery,
and Blue hung out on his binkey.