Cochiti Lake and Balloon Fiesta.....Finally!

We left our beautiful and free boondocking spot in preparation of attending the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.  We moved to Cochiti Lake which is an US Army Corp of Engineer park between Albuquerque and Santa Fe.  This site had a dirt dam which creates the lake and is on the Cochiti Indian reservation.

First we had a site with no hookups and then after 4 nights we moved to a site with hookups for 4 more nights.  Ah, electricity!

Our RV is in the middle of this photo

Cochiti Lake

The sunsets were amazing!

There is a website and app similar to Facebook for RV'ing people called RVillage.com.  I reached out to another couple that were staying at the same campground and started full-timing around the same time we did based on their profile.  We met up after our arrival in the campground and ended up meeting a really nice couple, Dorothy & Jerry and their dog Sadie.  They retired and sold their house in New Mexico so they had some good local advice for us

We had a salsa taste off in our RV with Al's salsa winning over the Black Mesa Indian restaurant's salsa!

Finally after weeks of waiting it was the start to the Balloon Fiesta!  Based on the weather prediction we chose the first day to attend the "mass ascension".  We had to set the alarm and leave Cochiti at 3:30 AM!  Our drive to the fiesta grounds was around 30 minutes and we were warned that there would be a lot of traffic.  Luckily we were coming from the north and since we arrived so early, we had no problems getting in and parked.  It was weird arriving to the grounds in the dark and it being our first time we had no idea the layout.  We walked around the fairway with many stands selling breakfast burritos to the waiting crowd.  Of course we had to try some.  I had a tamale burrito and it was delicious! 

While wandering around the fairway, we came upon the Cannon tent and learned they were loaning out cameras for the event for free.  We both picked up some pretty cool cameras to use for our photos.  They even had 'geniuses' to show us how to use the borrowed cameras!  Here were getting a lesson and some test shots.

Not bad for a pre-dawn photo!

Some booths had photo opportunities like this one for Honda so we participated

With our borrowed cameras it was time to go out on to the field and wait for the balloons to start their show.  Before the sun came up, some of the balloons were inflated and lifted off and got the crowd excited.

It was cold before dawn but Dorothy warned me so we were were dressed in layers as once the sun came up the temp would be rising.

It was so cool that they let the guests walk on the field among the balloons and get up and close to the action.  The hard part was deciding where to go next.  There was so much activity!

Humpty Dumpty

Every time a balloon lifted off, the crowd would cheer!

There were official balloon fiesta people dressed in black and white stripes and they are known as zebras.  Their job was to help the balloons lift off and keep the crowds safe in the process.  They had some funny outfits.

Zebra's

Cosmo

Pretty wolf balloon

After a balloon lifts off, their chase crew leaves the grounds and tries to be there where ever they land.  It was hard for the trucks to leave the field with so many people.

These guys were my favorites!

Wells Fargo Wagon

Darth Vader and Yoda - crowd favorites!

One thing that makes this event unique is what is know as the "Box effect".  The winds and the valley allow pilots to lift off and fly with the winds and make their way back to the fiesta grounds and land.  Here's some more info if you're interested.

http://knowbefore.weatherbug.com/2013/10/24/albuquerque-box-mystery-explained/

We saw balloons that took off and rode with the winds and managed to land back on the fiesta grounds.

Printed on the back of a chase vehicle

Fairway and crowds

Try this link to all my travel videos:                 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpjYjnBs8tMUZL_DWsVnnEQ

Click on the 'videos' tab to find the balloon videos.

or each one individually:
https://youtu.be/FKRRnoS50xE  (3 minutes, 15 seconds)

https://youtu.be/leohL2e0j9U  (2:08)

https://youtu.be/6Gu0hW6tvXA  (1:58)

https://youtu.be/tYrnNrZqVHo  (1:13)

https://youtu.be/AKO31y_2cCQ  (43 seconds)

https://youtu.be/U4SdnE8Eouc  (1:04)

https://youtu.be/iU0gnI7f6RE  (1 minute)

https://youtu.be/EBHml0fitrQ (50 seconds)

https://youtu.be/yNIZwiG0FFU   (1:44)

Landing:  https://youtu.be/5pAdiuBNQAE (20 seconds)

So the festival is broken down to morning and afternoon sessions.  Each session needed a separate ticket.  We found tickets at Costco where they sold 4 tickets for $28 instead of $10 each so we saved some money.  Of course there was a charge for parking too.

After the very early morning wake up and amazing mass ascension, we went to the local Cabela's.  One of the youtube channels we love to watch was having a get together in their meeting room.  We've been watching "Less Junk More Journey" videos as we were preparing for this lifestyle.  The couple have a young daughter who is so cute and the couple are great videographers.  This couple makes part of their living by creating youtube content!

Marissa, Hensley, and Nathan
The little girl wears her pink boots a lot in the videos.  I liked they way they captured this in their photo. 
They actually already purchased bigger sizes so she has new ones to grow into.    

We were groupies and I was excited to meet them in person.  They were super nice and I enjoyed meeting them but too embarrassed to ask for photos.  Finally I got a photo with Marissa who is pregnant (after a long struggle which they addressed in their videos).  Seeing so many of their videos I feel like I know them!  They are rock stars in the RV world!

Their youtube channel:  https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=less+junk+more+journey

After getting up at 3:30 AM and the excitement of the balloon fiesta and the meet and greet of Nathan, Marissa, and Hensley, we were beat and went to sleep early once we got back to the RV.  It was a great day and worth the wait!

Our plan was to use our other two tickets to attend the special shapes balloons liftoff on Thursday afternoon.  The special shape balloons are my favorites.  We went to the grounds and walked around the fairway and exhibits waiting for the go or no-go decision.  They display a flag on the main flagpole with either a green (go), yellow (still deciding), or red (no-go) to notify the crowd of the decision for that afternoon.  Unfortunately the wind was too strong and we got a red flag and the balloons didn't go up.  The Balloon glow was also cancelled.  We were bummed but now we have a reason to go back to another fiesta.

On Saturday, it was a beautiful morning and we watched the mass ascension on TV from the comfort of our sofa.  This gave us a different perspective and we enjoyed the coverage.  One thing we learned is the balloon pilots like to do a "splash and dash" in the Rio Grande river if winds take them that direction.  They like to slowly lower down to the water and dip the balloon basket into the river before ascending again.  It was a great morning for this and there were lots of balloons doing this maneuver.  Some kayakers got some great views of this event.

If you are interested in attending this event in the future, plan ahead!  Here is their official website with lots of info:  https://balloonfiesta.com/

While making our plans for our next stop, we decided on another Army Corp of Engineer park further east in New Mexico.  Later taking with Dorothy and Jerry we found out they were going to the same park.  We added another night at Cochiti and caravaned with them to Santa Rosa ACOE park.  We enjoyed the time we got to spend with them.

Next we're making our way to Texas!