Since we were driving, we decided to stop the first night in El Paso to break-up the drive. We stayed at Paseo del Norte - a beautiful downtown hotel. This was our bedroom - loved the Mexican vibe.

Woke up and had breakfast, did a little lap around the downtown El Paso area and got our excited selves into the car and headed to Albuquerque.

Checked in and got ready to head to the festival. Got on the bus, got into the festival and found the Chasers Club to get ready for the festivities.

Soon discovered the meaning of the green, yellow and red flags. The flag was yellow meaning holding pattern. This was supposed to be the night of the nighttime glow and fireworks. 9mph winds or above means no go. The only thing we got was a few skydivers.

Day 2 - winds and rain please hold off. Same routine as the day before except at 5:00 am 😳.

Was supposed to be a sunrise ascension. The winds were a little strong, so not at sunrise. But about an hour later, green flag!!! I would estimate about 1/3 of the balloons went up. Yippee! The morning did start with a drone show. A new thing I guess.

No more balloon festival- just a day in Albuquerque. Spent the afternoon wandering around old town and a visit to some of our places around there. Gruet \240winery of course.