RECAP OF OUR TRIP TO ALBUQUERQUE

The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta has always been on our bucket list! It’s THE world’s most photographed event, so we knew it would be a photographer’s dream. Picture thousands of people all gathered together to watch over 600 hot air balloons take off in a weekend. The fiesta is every October and spans across two weekends. We chose to attend the second weekend, and though it was a jam-packed trip, we would hands-down recommend it to anyone. It was such a unique (and exhausting) experience, and we can’t wait to tell you all about our weekend trip below. (Check out #katistravels on Instagram for more travel photos!)

 

Pre Trip Checklist:

BEFORE YOU GO

-In preparation for the trip, you’ll want to book your hotel WAY in advance. Hotel prices spike during the Balloon Fiesta weekends, so the earlier you can book a room, the better. We recommend booking a hotel as close to the Balloon Fiesta grounds as possible so you can beat the traffic into the park. We stayed at a Holiday Inn on I-25 , so we were about 15 minutes away from the Fiesta. You will also want to look into renting a car so you don’t have to worry about catching an Uber at 4 AM for the morning balloon take-off. We didn’t want to risk depending on Uber for a ride this time around! The only downside to this is that you have to pay to park each time you leave and return.

-We pre-purchased our General Admission tickets to the Balloon Fiesta, and it saved us some time because we didn’t have to wait in line to buy them once we got to the Fiesta grounds. We also pre-purchased our tickets to the Saturday afternoon Music Fiesta that took place in between the morning and evening Fiesta events. In hindsight, this might not have been necessary, but we weren’t sure how popular the concert would be.

-Pack LAYERS! Mornings started off around 50 degrees with a breeze, and afternoons warmed up to 75 degrees and sunny. By nighttime, it was back down to the high 40’s, and we wanted our jackets and gloves all over again! It’s a hike to the parking lots from the Fiesta grounds. You should plan to carry a small bag to store your unused layers as the day goes on. You are also allowed to bring snacks and water into the Fiesta grounds, so definitely take advantage of that!

-A friend who went to the Fiesta the week before us recommended wearing boots (rather than mesh tennis shoes) because you walk around on grass most of the time. If the grass is damp in the morning, you risk the chance of walking around in soaked shoes all day!

TL;DR: Book your hotel and car early, pre-purchase Fiesta tickets, bring layers and small bag, wear boots!

 

Day 1:

FRIDAY AFTERNOON

We arrived in Albuquerque on Friday afternoon, and we asked an employee at the car rental place where the best place to eat lunch was. He described a retail shopping center or a cute downtown area. Needless to say, we chose to go to the downtown area called Old Town Albuquerque. Even the name was cute! Parking was difficult, but that’s just a sign it was the place to be on a Friday afternoon.

 

 

We walked around the town and perused some of the souvenir shops. We were surprised by the great selection of New Mexico-esque items and bought ourselves a few souvenirs. Our favorite stop was at De Colores which was a cute gift shop with multiple rooms. They also handed out free Piñon coffee which we found out is a favorite brand in New Mexico. There was also live music and performances happening at Old Town Plaza in front of the San Felipe de Neri Church.

We ate a lunch late/early dinner at a restaurant called La Placita Dining Rooms. Our tacos didn’t leave a huge impression on us, but HOLY MOLY, the sopapillas alone were worth the trip! Then, we went downtown to Deep Space Coffee, a super hip coffee bar with notable lattes.

FRIDAY EVENING

Upon arriving in Albuquerque, we had no idea what we were going to do our first night in town. Luckily, we overheard our airport shuttle driver recommending a Chinese Lantern Festival that happened to be in town that weekend. We decided to go check it out once the sun went down, and we were pleasantly surprised! I had never seen a real lantern in person, so I didn’t know what to expect. The lanterns were larger than life, and it’s crazy to think they were all hand crafted. The lantern festival also had a performance that showcased traditional Chinese dances, contortionists, and more. We love experiencing different cultures, so we enjoyed the show and all of the sight seeing! It would have been nice to have dinner there too, but we had just finished our amazing sopapillas as I mentioned!

 

Day 2:

SATURDAY MORNING (DAWN)

First day of the Fiesta! The first big event of the Balloon Fiesta is the Dawn Patrol take-off. It starts around 5:45 AM, and it’s recommended that you arrive around 4 or 4:30 AM to avoid traffic. It was a rude awakening, but we didn’t see much traffic on our way to the Fiesta grounds. There was a long line once we arrived at the entry gate, but we think that’s because we got there before the gates were officially opened at 4:30 AM.

Once inside the fair grounds, we ordered giant burritos for breakfast. Then, we found a spot at a picnic table to watch the laser light show that precedes the first take-off. To be honest, we were confused about where to go to see the Dawn Patrol take-off. We asked a local who had been there before, and she told us we were allowed to walk among the fields and get up close and personal to the balloons that were taking off. We took her advice and ventured out into the fields where we saw trucks dropping off balloons. Huddled together in the dark, we stood among hundreds of people waiting to see the very first balloon light up. It was pitch dark with only a sliver of light coming over the mountains. Everyone cheered as the first balloon lit up the sky. From there, a whole row of balloons was simultaneously lit. Alex and I both agree this was our favorite part of the Fiesta because it was such a unique and exciting experience.

 

 

The Dawn Patrol consists of about a dozen balloons that take off in the early morning to check the weather conditions and ultimately determine whether or not the remaining balloons (The Mass Ascension) can take off. The Dawn Patrol pilots give the other pilots an idea of the conditions and wind patterns they can expect once in the air.

 

 

SATURDAY MORNING (POST SUNRISE)

We thought the Dawn Patrol was amazing enough, but we had no idea the Mass Ascension that took off around 7 AM would consist of HUNDREDS of balloons. It lasted so long that we were able to take tons of photos and even lay out on a picnic blanket to watch them float by.

 

 

The best part of the Fiesta is that you can be right by the action. At one point, we even had to move from where we were sitting in the field because a truck drove up with a balloon that wanted to launch there!

SATURDAY AFTERNOON/EVENING

When lunchtime rolled around, there was a little bit of downtime between the remaining Fiesta events. We chose to leave the park to grab a quick bite to eat before taking a nap at the hotel. (Remember, we woke up at 3:30 AM!!) We accidentally chose the trendiest brunch place in town and waited an hour to get a table. If you decide to eat at Farm & Table, we highly recommend making a reservation beforehand! We ordered mimosas to make up for how long we waited, so it worked out okay in the end!

Around mid-day, we returned to the Fiesta grounds for the country Music Fiesta featuring Billy Currington. There were a ton of people there, and we sat pretty far back on the lawn. Despite the heat, it was fun listening to country music and relaxing for a couple hours. In hindsight, I would have brought a baseball cap and sunscreen!

We wanted to see the evening events, so we roamed around the Fiesta for a while to kill time until the sun went down. We ate corndogs, purchased some more of our favorite Piñon coffee, and tried to find somewhere to sit. (You’re lucky if you find a chair or table somewhere because there are so many people!) When the sun started going down, it got chilly again. We bundled up and walked around to see The Balloon Glows. It’s when all of the balloons line up and fire their burners/light up at the same time. Unfortunately, the weather conditions weren’t ideal for the balloons to inflate while grounded, but they still lit their burners. We walked around watching them burn and even hopped into a grounded basket! We stayed a bit longer for the AfterGlow Fireworks Show. I would say it was an impressive show. It lasted a good amount of time, and at one point, there were fireworks happening in both corners of the park simultaneously! The finale was incredible, especially after a long day and all of the anticipation leading up the the show. (Sorry, no fireworks pics because we were so excited!)

 

Day 3:

SUNDAY MORNING

We like to get the most out of our weekend trips even if it means sacrificing sleep for a few days. Our flight back to Houston was scheduled for 3 PM, but we were determined to make a (super out of the way) pit stop at the White Sands National Monument before leaving town. We left the hotel at 3:45 AM, and Alex drove 3.5 hours to the White Sands while I snoozed in the front seat. We arrived at the White Sands exactly at sunrise, around 7:15 AM, so we hurried to the top of a sand dune to soak it all in. It was such a picture perfect moment that we decided to do an impromptu photo shoot featuring a shawl I just bought at the gift store. I roamed around the sand dunes barefoot while Alex snapped a few photos, and then we pulled out our trusty tripod!

 

 

We wish we would have had more time to explore and go sledding down the dunes, but we had to leave quickly to catch our flight. Overall, it was an amazing site to see, especially at sunrise. The dunes were untouched, so the only impressions in the sand were ripples from the wind. We tried to not walk around the top of the dunes too much because we didn’t want to spoil their beauty for the next viewers. (Pro tip: make sure you check whether or not the park is open before you make the drive. They close frequently for missile testings in the area.)

We made it to the airport with minutes to spare before we had to return our rental, and that was a wrap! (We frantically tried to clean the sand out of the car before we turned it back in. Oops!)

 

Our Final Thoughts:

Kati: This was one of my favorite trips to date! Watching hundreds of hot air balloons take off is nothing short of incredible. It’s hard to even find the words to describe it. I love that we were able to see Old Town Albuquerque, attend both the Balloon Fiesta and Music Fiesta, and roadtrip to the White Sands all in one weekend. I would do it all over again, and I highly recommend putting the Balloon Fiesta onto your bucket list! (The balloons weren’t able to take-off on Sunday, so we lucked out that we went on Saturday. If you choose to go, keep your options open for Saturday AND Sunday just in case!)

Alex: The Balloon Fiesta exceeded my expectations, and I hope we get the chance to go back soon. It’s hard to show how grand of an event it was through the photos we took. There were balloons everywhere you looked- above you, to the left, to the right, etc. One of my tips for the Fiesta is to bring a straw hat to block the afternoon sun during the day since there’s virtually no shade. I also enjoyed the time we spent at the White Sands despite all of the driving it took to get there! If I could change one thing about the trip, I would have spent more time at the White Sands (which would have meant planning for a later flight.) The White Sands was so different than anything I’ve ever seen, and I would have liked to try sledding there as well. New Mexico is a beautiful place- even the drive back to the airport was scenic!

(Also, we are both super sad we didn’t enter the Balloon Fiesta photo contest. We didn’t know about it until it passed! Maybe next time…)

Bonus: Some of Alex’s 35 mm film scans from TheFindLab!