Day 3 Balloon Flight & Competition

Hi All,

Launches were delayed for over an hour due to high winds. When the crews were finally cleared to launch the sky soon filled with balloons.

Everyone begins inflating at once. Many balloons are touching.

Once balloons are stood up, Launch Directors sequence their take offs for safety.

Dearth Vader drifts overhead

Fireman heads south

Smokey Bear joins the fleet. Only fitting since the real Smokey Bear was from NM and was buried here after he died at the Smithsonian Zoo in DC..

After to launches from the field, a competition began for balloons launched from at least a mile away. Pilots used different wind directions at different altitudes to fly to the field and drop markers on targets. This balloon is about to fly directly over the target!

This one is not so close but beautiful.

Three other contestants coming across the field.

After the competition we visited the Balloon Museum and learned a lot about the history of balloon flight.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 

Living & Traveling in our Motorhome

Volunteering across America

greenbaum2@gmail.com

617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone

Day 2 Evening Program

Hi All,

After a mid-day nap we were back on the launch field for the "Glowdeo" and fireworks. As you can see from the pictures the field was packed solid with balloons including some special shapes we had not seen before.

When the announcer call for all balloons to burn, the combined glow of all of the propane flames was stunning. It also kept us warm as the evening chilled down.

The evening program concluded with a fantastic fireworks display.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 

Living & Traveling in our Motorhome

Volunteering across America

greenbaum2@gmail.com

617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone

Special Shapes

Hi All,

We had heard about the different specially shaped balloons but we had no idea there were so many clever designs.

After the first wave of regular balloons launched, the specials began to set up.

Please forgive this big email but it was hard to choose which pictures to send.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 

Living & Traveling in our Motorhome

Volunteering across America

greenbaum2@gmail.com

617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone

Day 2- Mass Balloon Ascension

Hi All,

Before dawn, all across the launch field, balloons began inflating. As they began to lift off, it was hard to decide where to look as we stood out on the field among the balloons.

At one point we counted over 100 balloons in the air and as they drifted off to the east they were replaced by more launches.

It was an awesome sight that more than lived up to our high expectations.

Next came the special shapes-see next email.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 

Living & Traveling in our Motorhome

Volunteering across America

greenbaum2@gmail.com

617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone

Balloon Fiesta Day 1

Hi All,

Bad news, the wind was too high to launch balloons so our 4:15 AM wake up was for naught.

Good news, by the afternoon the wind died and we got to watch a beautiful "glowdeo" where they light up the balloons on the ground.

Butterfly

Bees

Hendrick's Gin

Propane Burner

Glowing Balloons

Love,

Sandy & Carl 

Living & Traveling in our Motorhome

Volunteering across America

greenbaum2@gmail.com

617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone

Petrified Forest National Park

Hi All,

Thursday we left Phoenix with all our repairs completed and headed towards Albuquerque. We broke the trip into two days, stopping in Holbrook, AZ to visit Petrified Forest National Park.

The fossilized trees were everywhere, exhibiting beautiful colors in some cases and in others, looking like they were still wood.

This is the biggest surviving petrified tree, called "Old Faithful"

As the logs fossilize, internal stress causes them to crack in a way that looks like they were chain sawed.

The fossilized logs are exposed as these sediment deposits erode.

This scene is from Painted Desert National Monument which is adjacent to the Petrified Forest. Unfortunately the sun had set by the time we got here.

Tomorrow it's on to the balloon festival.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 

Living & Traveling in our Motorhome

Volunteering across America

greenbaum2@gmail.com

617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone

Finishing our Boston Trip

Hi All,

After Yom Kippur with the Brody's and the last of our 14 medical appointments (good thing we are healthy ;-) we returned to Roberta & Elliot's. We visited Sandy's mom a couple of times and went to two movies. "Untouchables"was wonderful. "The Master" included two Oscar calibre performances and an indecipherable plot described by one reviewer as "evasive and elliptical".

Monday the rain stopped and we went birding at Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge.

Looking Across the Meadow

Baby Snapping Turtle

Today we fly back to Phoenix and head for the balloon festival in Albuquerque.

Love,

Sandy & Carl 

Living & Traveling in our Motorhome

Volunteering across America

greenbaum2@gmail.com

617-435-8502

Photographed and sent from Carl's iPhone