Day 3 & 4

Day 3 started out with a windy morning so no dawn patrol and no balloons going up at all today, so all we did was explor the grounds and fix the guest breakfast, lunch and then heavy snacks for social.  Not to bad of a day with no balloons going up but we did have a great fireworks display last night.  We had a gentlemen come to the opening day and explain a little bit about the balloons and one thing he said was yesterday the weather was great for flying, but today is to windy.  So always get up because tomorrow can never come back.
Day 4 was a good morning for the guest, not so good for staff.  The gen-set stopped just as we were starting breakfast.  But no fear the staff went back to their coach fired up the generators and finished cooking the food and everyone had hot food.  Then the dawn patrol went up.

There were about 6 balloons go up before daylight, but this was the best one that I got.  Then about 30 minutes later all hell broke lose and this is waht we seen.

 What a morning and they just keep coming.

 Then we seen Humpty-Dumpty come floating by just above the coaches.

 Now he hits the ground.

Then Humpty Dumpty lost his air.

 Then right by our tent this guy lands his balloon.

 Down on the ground and guest running to help him stay put.

Cyndy even got in on holding it down.
We had a great morning of watching them flying over us, it was really neat.
At 10:00 AM we departed on a bus for the Sandia Peak Tram Ride and lunch at the High Finance Restaurant. Yah! we don't have to fix a meal or clean up.

 We have a great group on our bus.

 Waiting for the tram, we were lucky our rally master got our tickets before we left the campground for the ride up.  We seen people there waiting  for up to and hour to get tickets, then they still have to wait another half hour or more just to get on the tram.

 What a view.

Another great day at this Rally, having fun but still a lot of work and enjoying the guess.

First two day of Balloon Fiesta

We made it to Albuquerque, NM with no problems and 384 miles behind. The staff was happy to see us and I was happy to be done driving. We helped out with a few things then called it a night.
On the morning of the 3rd was pretty good all we had to do was watch the guess coming in and getting ready for the orientation and dinner.

 Then about 8:00 AM we started seeing balloons going up up up and away.

But we found out this was like a scooting party before everything starts tomorrow.  There were 10 balloons that went up to different heights to see which way the wind was blowing.  It was cool watching them move around, some were able to catch different currents and come back to the field they took off from.  Others ended up way out in left field.

Orientation went well and everyone made it in and was ready to see some balloons.  We had a great dinner and everyone called it and early night, because if you want to watch the dawn patrol you have to be up before 5:00 AM.  Yep, and Cyndy was up by 4:30 AM.

 This is what they call the Dawn Patrol, they are going up to test the winds before the judges say they cal launch the rest of them.  We hope to get better pictures tomorrow, but you get the idea it is dark out.

After waiting about and hour this is what we have been waiting to see, hope you enjoyed as much as we did.  But being here is the best.

 They just keep coming from behind that building, there were over two hundred balloons launched this morning.

 This one set down in the field right in front of our coaches, and about five minutes later it was lifting off again.

 Their is more coming and coming.

What a day, WOW!!!!!!
If this is the first day of balloons launching, I can't wait for the day we have left it is amazing.  I may just post pictures tomorrow and no test.

Day 29 & 30

Today fro day 29 we had another long drive of 84 miles and it was all great roads.  Everyone made it to the campground with know problems.  I like that, it makes my job a little easier when everyone makes it in with know problems.  The rest of the day was just doing nothing and enjoying the sun and fellowship of the caravan.  We had a wonderful social today with desserts and lots of snacks, no need for dinner tonight.
Day 30 started of early with everyone loading the bus at 8:00 AM for a day of view the area of Verdi Valley. Our first stop was Montezuma Castle.

They had a great visitors center here with a lot of history, a must see if you are ever in this area.

 Or guide Dennis said that the last time this area was open to the public to go up into the ruins was about 15 years ago.  Now the only people let up there are the park people and people that study these people.  You really wonder how many ladders they have to climb to get to the first floor.

 Here is our guide Dennis explaining things about the ruins.

This is a model of the what the castle looks like with all of there rooms.
Our next stop was the Montezume Well.

This is amazing, for a desert area to have this natural springs filling this well.  It never goes down during the summer and if I am right it spills out about 100 gallons a miunte.

 This was a canal used to divert the water for the indians farm area in the early days.

The water flows very quickly out from under these rocks and runs into the canal and the creek below.
Our next stop was Tuzigoot Indian Ruins.

 Each of these rooms would house one family, as you can see this was a big community.

As I said to day was a very busy day with a lot of sights to see, but our next stop was a ghost town that has come back to life.  During the late 1900's Jerome was a big copper mining area.  When copper market feel apart the town became a ghost town.  Then in the 1980's or around that time it became a artist retreat, because of the great views of the area.  Remember Jerome is build on a hill.  This was a great place to eat lunch.

After shopping and eating we head to Airport Mesa above Sedona.

A wonderful view of Sedona area.
Our final stop of the day was Oak Creek Canyon.

It was a long day but a lot of wonderful sites that we visited. Tomorrow is our last full day and people will be on their own tell we head to the farewell dinner tonight.  Then bright and early everyone heads out on a new trip.  We will be heading towards the Balloon Festival in Albuquerque.  So keep an eye on the blog and you will see what happens there.  This has been a great trip and the people have been wonderful.  I hope we all cross paths in the future.  May the roads be clear and the views wonderful.