Theresa saw that one of the biggest hot air balloon festivals in the world happens in Albuquerque in early October. We're always ready to travel and it's always fun to travel with friends, so we invited the Bakers to join us.
We all got off work at noon and headed to the airport.
We went to the hotel first since it was walking distance from the airport and dropped off all our stuff. We decided to have "New Mexican" food for dinner and found a tasty place to eat. The best part was that they had sopapillas with honey!
The next morning we had to get up super early to get to the fiesta.
We drove to a parking lot and took a bus to get there.
We got to the field and it was pretty empty. There were a few people laying out balloons, and one that was inflating, but it wasn't that crowded. Take a look at those skies.
As we were walking over to the one balloon we saw inflating, it started to sprinkle. A few seconds later, the skies opened up and it started to pour. Not only that but there was lightning as well. Everyone hustled over to the vendor tents and tried to find a place to stay dry. Theresa and I were wearing rainproof jackets plus had a small umbrella, so we stayed outside the tent so others could squeeze in. Our jeans got a bit wet, but it wasn't too bad.
After maybe 15 minutes, the rain and lightning passed and people started coming out again. There were tons of vendors selling all sorts of interesting foods. We passed on a donut burger, but Jonathan did get some mini-donuts. T and I split a breakfast burrito.
With the weather, all the events on the field were cancelled, but there was still other stuff to see. We checked out the craft tent.
And watched some chain saw sculptures being made.
The clouds are still looking crazy.
Next we went into another tent and learned all about balloon making. Theresa it weaving a basket.
After that, we headed back to the bus to go back to the parking lot.
Krispy Kreme happened to be one of the vendors but instead of getting old donuts, we decided to go find some fresh ones. Did you know that if you look up locations online it will tell you which places have "Hot Donuts Now"? We found the nearest one and after google maps tried to route us to a horse pasture, we used Siri to finally get us to the hot donuts.
Lacey didn't know they made anything other than plain glazed and this was her first time seeing them being made in the store.
So every single other time we've been to a Krispy Kreme and they are making donuts fresh, we have been offered a free donut. This time, we stood there waiting but they didn't offer us anything. Hmm, not my favorite place.
Then at the cash register, they had a trivia question where if you knew the answer, you got a coupon for a free donut. Both Jonathan and I knew the answer so I told girl at the register and got my coupon. Jonathan also gave her the answer, but she said that he couldn't have a coupon. Really??? Definitely not my favorite.
I made Lacey wear the hat.
We were all a bit tired from getting up super early so we went back to the hotel for a nap.
Lunch was Jonathan pick, so we went to Sonic. I do enjoy their Texas toast burgers and tots.
Next we went to go see the new movie Looper. It was different, but I think most of us enjoyed it. And with a nap Lacey didn't even fall asleep.
What else can we do on this rainy and cloudy day? We haven't gone bowling in a while, so why not do that?
What form.
So the first game went to the girls. Theresa took 1st and Lacey followed in 2nd.
The next game, I was just messing around (Can you believe they have signs saying "No lofting the ball". Who would do something like that?), but Jonathan took 1st for that game.
We assumed (correctly) that the evening Balloon Glow would be cancelled due to high winds.
We decided we'd head to a yummy dinner at Tucanos, an all you can eat Brazilian steakhouse. Lacey and Jonathan loved their huge salad bar. I thought the grilled pineapple was tasty, and you can never go wrong with all you can eat meat.
The day didn't quite go like we expected, but it was still interesting. Tomorrow we'll be up early again. Let's hope it's not cancelled again.
Tucano's rocks :) Next time you guys are out here we can take you to ours!
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