Balloon Fiesta

After about two and a half hours of sleep, I got up at 4:30am to catch Mass Ascension at the Balloon Fiesta. This is the early morning event where all 700+ balloons take off within minutes of each other.

I took a million pictures. Click below to see a few of them.

The group was me, Celina (driver), Yuli, Mick, Ana. Traffic was pretty heavy around the Balloon Park but we got there in plenty of time to see the very first balloons take off in the dark. It's pretty cool when they fire up and light the whole balloon.


The sunrise was pretty coming over the mountains. It also helped warm us up a bit.


Here's a panoramic shot... and yet only the tip of the iceburg. So many balloons!


Representing my Missouri teams hardcore. (M-I-Z... Let's Go Blues!)


Pretty pretty.


God Bless America!


There was seriously a balloon shaped like a dead cat.


Patriotic Lighthouse... hooray!


Holding Hand Bee Balloons (but not really).


But I think my favorite shape was the Smokey The Bear Balloon!


Here's a view of the field after most of the balloons had taken off. I think they said it's about the size of 54 football fields. And there were so many people there.


We stayed at the Balloon Park for a couple of hours and then I went home and crashed for almost five hours.