Day two in New Mexico was a little more exciting than day one. I think that the three of us (me, my husband Scott, and my friend Meagan) actually got enough sleep to last us the rest of our time in The Land of Enchantment. At least that is how we felt at 5:30 am when we were getting ready to leave our hotel in hopes of making it into the the Balloon Fiesta Park for the mass launch that was scheduled to happen at 7:00 am. However… much to our disappointment, we never made it into the park. Apparently everyone else in the universe wanted to make it into the park before sunrise as well. Even though our hotel was only five minutes away from the park, we spent almost an hour on the interstate trying to get there. 
Finally we realized that the balloons were launching and we were missing it! So we jumped out of our spot that we had held onto so dearly on the exiting lane of the interstate, and we decided to go find our own spot outside of the park where we could grab some shots. Luckily we didn’t have to go very far. About a mile up the interstate from the exit, there was a small pull off where a few other cars were already making great use of the space. So we pulled in and got out of our car to set up our tripods and cameras for some HOT AIR BALLOON bliss! We were thrilled when we looked accross the interstate and realized that we could actually see all of the balloons that were still on the ground inside the park. But the one thing that we kept saying to each other on this extremely cold morning, was that we could not believe how many balloons were actually in the air. I believe we found out later that over 500 balloons had actually launched for the final mass launch this morning! I wish I had a wide angle lens with me, because there is no way for me to even come close to being able to show you the mass number of balloons in the air at one time.
There were so many different colors and shapes. I believe you can see Smokey the Bear in this photo, but there were also many others. My favorite were the bumble bee balloons. They were too cute. There was even a set of them that featured pink ribbons on their body in honor of breast cancer awareness. And why not? After all… it is October, right? Let’s see… there was also Darth Vader, a cow, Tweetie Bird, a Pepsi can, and many others. I’m getting dizzy thinking about the various shapes and characters that were in the air. Let me just say this… if you’ve never been to a hot air balloon fiesta, you definately need to! Albuquerque holds this every year, and it is the world’s largest hot air balloon festival. It is definately worth it!
So after we froze our tails off standing on the side of the interstate shooting pictures of these massive balloons in the air, I got a call from my friend Michelle who told me that they were standing in a certain area about 10 miles from us where the balloons were landing right in front of them. We couldn’t get out of there fast enough! We kicked dirt and rocks behind us as we squeeled tires out of that area in the direction of where the balloons were landing. We were chasing them. I believe it was at that moment that I realized, I could move to Albuquerque and become a balloon chaser! This was easy! But it in fact was not all that easy during the fiesta because every other soul from with 1500 miles of Albuquerque was doing the same thing we were! But we did end up getting some nice shots of the balloons landing, and some shots with a better composition that the side of the interstate! By this time the sun was well up in the sky, and the blue skies were shining their beauty. I have never seen skies like the sky in New Mexico.
Here in Tennessee we have so much haze, that I believe nobody realizes what color God truly created the skies. There is nothing like it. I picture myself standing on top of one of the mountains in New Mexico with my arms spread wide while looking up into the skies with the sun shining down on my face while thanking God over and over for giving me such beauty to capture with my lens. But I’m rambling, so let me get back to balloon chasing!
After we had enough of the traffic and chasing balloons, we decided that we would drive to Old Town Albuquerque to see what it was all about. We noticed in all of our driving around that we were seeing a lot of chili peppers hanging from people’s front porches. I think we spent the rest of our trip wondering what the significance was. But when we reached Old Town Albuquerque, we couldn’t believe how many chili peppers we saw. They were everywhere. There were even shops that specialized in selling anything you could imagine that had anything to do with chili peppers. When you go out to eat in New Mexico, no matter if you are at Sonic or a mexican restaurant, the question is, “Do you want red or green?”
Old Town Albuquerque was full of life! The streets were lined with all kinds of people from different cultures and parts of the world. The art shops were beautiful! But I can tell you this… tourists are not their main target customer. It is obvious from the prices of this art that they are selling to customers that collect this art. It was definately beautiful, but since I was not a collector I could not get over the sticker shock. But if I had time, money, and resources… I could very easily get into this art because it was absolutely, fabulously, beautiful!
I love the look and feel of New Mexico. The sidewalks in Old Town Albuquerque are mostly brick, and the adobe style buildings with brightly colored doors and windows were so inviting and full of life! The indian culture of New Mexico is definately embraced by the locals, and they are extremely proud of the heritage… as I would be as well. This land is a land that has managed to advance with the times while remaining true to their heritage and culture.
Not only are the streets beautiful and historical, but there is an area where local Indians are able to sell their items on the street. I remember seeing this when I visited New Mexico as a child (about 5 years old) with my family. But the memories came flooding back the minute I walked up on this in Old Town Albuquerque. The Indian men and women look a little less like Indians than they did when I visited as a little girl, but the beautiful hand-crafted jewelry and pottery are exactly as I remember them.
The streets of Old Town Albuquerque are stretched around one significant beauty. The center of the area is a beautiful church called San Felipe de Neri Parish. This church was actually built in 1719 and collapsed from a heavy rain in 1792. So it was rebuilt in 1793 and remains the oldest surviving building in the city of Albuquerque. This beautiful church is definately the heart of Old Town Albuquerque!
One of the things that I love about New Mexico is the adobe style houses and buildings that are signature for this part of the country. Everywhere I turned I found some sort of window, door, or patio that just really called out to my camera. I’ve never been interested in taking pictures of doors and windows before, but this time was different. I wonder if New Mexico natives would feel the same about Tennessee? If they came to Tennessee, would they find our doors, windows, and patios just as interesting. I’m going out on limb here, but I’m guessing NOT! LOL.
Okay… all of this and it is only lunch time! So I am going to stop here. I will pick up in my next post where I left off here and I will start with our hunt for a place to eat lunch, and what we found along the way. You don’t want to miss this!
I would love to hear your comments about my photos, our adventures, or even your own experiences with New Mexico. Come on! Let me see who is really reading this blog!
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