Last weekend was the opening weekend and we made arrangements to go. As Saturday was the opening day, we chose to hold off and buy our tickets for Sunday. We are certainly glad we did as the event was canceled on Saturday due to the weather. Come to find out, in order for the balloons to launch, the conditions have to be very still and pretty much perfect. They also don't make this decision until the very last minute unfortunately.
So...Sunday morning, the Steffen clan decided to take their chances and awoke around 4:30 a.m. (yes, even little Nora) to get bundled up and head to the Balloon Fiesta Park. We had to take our chances that the balloons would launch and I was soooo excited, I could hardly stand it, hehe. Nora on the other hand was wondering why in the world mommy and daddy would wake her up at this time of day. You want to arrive early due to traffic and also to make sure you get to see the first balloon fill up at 5:45 a.m. Immediately following that they began the Dawn Patrol. It was absolutely breath taking for someone who has never seen such a thing :) Nora immediately began to look alive as the lined up approx. 15 balloons and began shooting the fire into them so they were glowing! As they all were tied there glowing, the enormous crowd was chanting and cheering like you were at a championship sporting event!
Shortly after the Dawn Patrol ended and the sun came up, the entire field was full, and I mean FULL of balloons of all shapes, sizes, and colors. They took turns launching off from one side of the field to the other. Probably the neatest part was just getting to stand right next to them as they aired up and prepared for their ascension. There was no sitting involved, we walked around for hours (4 to be exact) watching hundreds of balloons lift off :)
Our sweet little Nora (ok, mom and dad too) were just memorized with the event. We took picture after picture of all our favorite balloons to help remember the event and of course to show all our friends and family how amazing the day was :) Nick and I are excited that we will also be going one more time before the event wraps up. This Saturday we have tickets to go to the "Glowdeo" which is the night launch of balloons which I believe will be a lot like the Dawn Patrol but even bigger! I am sure we will be posting even more pictures of that phenomenal event too!
In conclusion.... I HIGHLY recommend to all our friends and family to add this to your bucket list! You must come at some point and witness this awesome event, you will not be disappointed.
Below are a few of my favorite pics from a very memorable day with my little family......
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