Great day at the Balloon Fiesta

Today started windy, cloudy and cold. We thought there would be no flying today, but went to our assigned chase crew spot anyway where we met our pilot. We waited for about an hour as the weather improved and finally learned that the balloon fleet would be broken into two parts and half would launch from the main field after all! Our balloon was slated to launch from an off site location which ended up being canceled, so we had the chance to watch the action at the central field, which was great. The action was started by this red and white balloon hoisting the American Flag aloft.

At about 7:45am, several hundred balloons began to inflate and soon, the sky was full of colorful airships. The goal of this flight was to try and drop a marker on a target which happened to be very close to our motorhome, but the wind had other ideas and the balloons were blown off course to the south east. Still, it was great fun to watch them soar above us.

I was amazed at the many different shapes and sizes of balloons. My favorite is probably this wonderful castle balloon that looked like a fairytale castle in the sky. I would also have to admit a great liking for Darth Vader's helmet -- a very easy balloon to track in the sky.

There were so many balloons that it was hard to track them all. What a wonderful, colorful display.