Friday, April 13, 2012

Mom Visits Beautiful Southwest, Day 2 Balloon Ride

On day two we jumped right in with a sunrise balloon ride. If you've never been on one, I recommend it. The way Detroit is the Motor City, Albuquerque could be called Balloon Town.



After everything is sorted, you get stuffed in a small wicker basket and set aloft. Pre-flight we were quite happy:

And once aloft we were treated to spectacular views of the Rio Grande valley, with Albuquerque stretching out to the mountains:




At one point our pilot took us down to a few feet off of the river, and proceeded to fly us about 10 feet over the cars and trucks on Montano. We waved as they honked.


We were never alone in the sky. Balloon rides are big business here:

A balloon this size can sometimes be a handful. When landing one you are at the mercy of the wind, both for where and how fast you come down. Note the half dozen folks trying to keep our fellow riders from being dragged down the street. This was on a day that felt extremely calm as well.

We were unscathed and happy:

2 comments: