Flight of the Nations Mass Ascension

Yesterday's tour guide: "A tourist called the visitor's bureau and asked if you had to be Catholic to watch the Mass Ascension!"

John and I were up early and went to the Flight of the Nations Mass Ascension this morning. 19 countries were represented by the first wave of balloons to launch. We were on the field walking in and out of the balloons. We saw Germany, Lithuania, Britain, Canada, Mexico and Thailand.

What was really neat was that 2-3 rows of balloons would inflate and then launch one after the other until all were in the air and then another few rows would go and then more. It was very orderly except that towards the end the wind had started to blow at about 10-15 mph. The pilots had a hard time keeping their balloons on the ground and in their place. Once they launched, the balloons took off in a big hurry, but not always upward. Some came so close to cars or other balloons that we held our breath. We were on the field for over two hours almost until the last balloon was gone. Then we watched some try to land and with that fast wind, they had trouble keeping them down. Almost every one dragged the ground and then fell onto their sides before stopping. We learned later that three balloons landed in power lines or on poles when they were landing off the field. No one was hurt badly.

Today's excursion took us to Old Town Albuquerque where we again shopped and dined. We found a really nice place for lunch that acted like a Mexican restaurant but the food was plain ole American!

We will have our farewell dinner tonight with Fantasy Tours and then tomorrow morning we'll be heading home. It's too bad we have to leave early because the Special Shapes Rodeo is tomorrow. We'll have to come back again in the future to see them.