We had no idea of what we were getting into. Of course we have seen balloons flying over Temecula Wine County, and Marsha actually took me flying in 1 for a birthday in Sedona. But this was “THE” Festival and we have heard about it for years. For RVers, it’s a must do event.
You can see from the picture above that the weather finally cooled down – actually at 0430 AM when we went to the field on the first day, it was down right cold. We had signed up with a tour company since we had no idea what all this involved. They had reserved about 100 spots in an area just across the street from the Festival, and the City ran buses back and forth, so it was very easy getting around. First thing in the morning (seemed like the middle of the night), a morning patrol (a group of about 10 balloons) take off before sunrise to test the winds and weather. As we watched them light up and take off, they immediately disappeared in a fog bank, so the powers that be canceled all launches. But all the balloon inflated and did what is called a morning glow- all shooting their flames into the balloons without actually taking off. Very cool to see it and hear it. This Festival is probably the only one who allows people on the field while the balloons are being unloaded, put together, inflated and prepared. It was so cool to be right there and be able to talk to the pilots and crew – they were as excited to have us there was we were to be there.
Now that we know what this is all about, we probably wouldn’t do a tour again. Don’t get me wrong, the tour people were great, very helpful and took care of everything. But part of that cost is a few meals, additional tours of cultural centers and old town. We are pretty good getting around on our own and can eat on our own (trust me – look at my waist line).
When the balloons were able to take off, they do a Mass Ascension. In my mind I expected to see all 580 balloons take off at once. Duh, can anybody spell accident waiting to happen. So of course they do it more safely – they take off in rows and the zebras (the safety officers) control when the next row can go. But OH MY, seeing so many balloons take off was amazing.
They also do some competition. They have to fly over a field and throw a weighted ribbon on an X, or place a ring over a large pole. You can’t steer these balloons but with skill (and I guess luck) you find wind patterns that get you where you want to go.
Many companies sponsor balloons. My grand-daughter Hannah works at WFB, so I wonder if she wants to transfer to the balloon team instead of banking?
On site there is a Balloon Museum. Very fascinating. Had many artifacts from early flights in hot air balloons, but also lots of info on gas balloons – filled with hydrogen (anyone remember the Hindenburg). A hot air balloon will stay up for a hour, maybe and hour and a half, but a gas balloon goes for days. We saw some take off at 9 PM for a race (the one who travels the furthest wins). The technology they have is amazing – we were able to log onto a site and get real time info on how each of the 9 balloons were doing. They went from Albuquerque and ended up in Canada above the Great Lakes. An American team (man and woman) won this year.
We loved this. Marsha and I are now Balloon Groupies. It was so much fun to be a part of this Festival. Even getting up so early to get over to the site was worth it (although on the second day I was by myself that early – they joined me closer to 7. We did 8 days here but the balloons ran only 5 of those days. We had to leave on Wednesday as they next “tour” group was coming in. All in all a great time.