In Fall of 2015, I was just beginning my quest to visit a National Park Service property in each state. At the time, my son was in college in San Francisco, and I would occasionally go out to visit him. I decided to take a week off work, visit Matt in school for a few days, then go on a VERY QUCK tour of the southwest. Of course, I love my son and all that, but the REAL reason for the trip was that it coincided with the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta!!

This was one of my first real solo trips. I was a bit nervous but wanted to have some fun. The first night, I booked an Airbnb in Albuquerque. The accommodations were a 1960’s pull behind RV, and it was CUTE!! The owners were in the house next door, and were incredibly nice, telling me the best time to get to the festival to see the lift off, etc. For some reason, I hadn’t realized that the lift offs were highly organized, and scheduled events. Thank you, Airbnb Hosts!!!

I got up super early for the lift off. Unfortunately, the sky was a cloudy and not conducive to those Getty Images photographs that I was envisioning, but that’s ok!

It was amazing!!! There were more balloons than I could count, with so many different colors, shapes, and sizes. I loved being under them during lift off. The festival is held at a Balloon museum, and I went in to look around. I bought a balloon ornament for my Christmas tree. I have a few “things” I do on all my trips, I get an ornament, and I get a rock from that state. Over time, I have veered away from the pretty glass ornaments like the one I got in Albuquerque to very obnoxious and quirky ones, but I still love my glass balloon!

Later in the day, I moved on to the nearby Petroglyph National Monument. It is on the outskirts of Albuquerque, up in the hills. The view is amazing, and the added sign of hundreds of balloons made it even more so!

#NewMexico