The cranes started flying over our house last week, but with the Balloon Fiesta, bad weather and getting home late, today was the first chance I had to get close to them. I got these shots shortly after sunset.

On Saturday, OC&NE correspondent Diana Duran got to fly in a balloon. Who is Diana? Diana is an intern architect, and architecture student working on her masters degree in architecture. Diana works for Cherry/See/Reames Architects (CSR), the architecture firm that shares space with ARC. Earlier in the year, Diana and Francelia, another intern architect at CSR, worked with me on a large security project for Albuquerque Public Schools. Diana mentioned that one of her dreams was to fly in a hot air balloon, so when I applied for media credentials for the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta this year, I added her as a photographer with OC&NE. I supplied her with a camera and lens, and she did a fantastic job doing photos the various times she was at the balloon park during the fiesta. On Saturday she flew with Jeff Haliczer in his balloon named Synchronicity. Jeff also has a special shape balloon of Humpty Dumpty upside down named "Off The Wall". You can read Jeff's bio at: http://offthewallballoon.com/Jeffs%20Bio.html. Rob Kaplan was another media correspondent who flew with Diana on Saturday morning. Rob is a Video Editor at NBC Universal, and his work can be seen regularly on NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt.  The first 15 photos in this post are by me of Jeff and his crew setting up Synchronicity, and of Diana ready to fly and taking off.  Diana added a few words about her dream, followed by 46 of Diana's photos taken on the ground and in the air.

Diana in front of the flames.

Jeff and his co-pilot Bandit. Jeff says "Dog is my co-pilot"

Taxying into position for takeoff.

Holding the basket while revving the burners.

Lift off!

Living a Dream
by Diana Duran

This weekend one of my dreams came true. It started around six years ago watching the news at my house in Colombia. I told everyone in the room that one day I was going to be there. Dad told me: Keep that dream with you in your heart, time and life will make it happen. Little did I know that I was going to be living in Albuquerque where precisely this event takes place. To me the most magical event I have seen in the world. The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is a work of art, engineering, and passion. 
 
This year, thanks to amazing people, I had the opportunity to enjoy a balloon ride. After many days trying to sort between weather, luck, and life between school and work, everything finally lined up on Saturday for me to have a beautiful experience.  Jeff Haliczer is the skilled pilot of his balloon named ”Synchronicity". The take-off was peaceful, and once in the air, he pointed out a couple of rules to follow inside the balloon. He proceeded to move towards the river where we did the famous "Splash-and-Dash" in the Rio Grande, and then followed the air currents for an hour and a half.  The views were surreal, however, the sky was covered in dense clouds that prevented the sun from doing its magic in the valley, but that gave us a fantastic view of the Sandias and all the other surrounding balloons. 
 
I doubt there is a comparable feeling to flying in a balloon. I will do it again and again. I will never forget this experience. 

Bandit supervising the set up

Jeff and Bandit

Jeff holding the flap open for me to stick my head in and do an interior shot of the balloon. Rob Kaplan is waiting his turn.

Diana's view from the inside of Synchronicity.

Final pre-flight preparation and consultation with Bandit and ground crew member.

Over the bosque on the east side of the Rio Grande.

Fourth Street and the railroad tracks.

Sandia Lakes Recreation Area on the Sandia Pueblo. The lakes are directly across from our property on the east side of the Rio Grande.

Splash and Dash in the Rio Grande.

This is a great aerial view of what we call "Beaver Point". Most of the photos I do of beaver in the Rio Grande are taken from this point. Most of the photos of the Sandias that I have posted over the years are taken from this point. The the photo of the super blood moon rising I did in 2015 was taken from this point. The Corrales Fire Department recently installed a 195.5 mile marker at Beaver Point. You can see it on the edge of the at the end of the trail.

A great view of the Sandias.

Balloons starting to land in fields in Corrales.

Landing at the north end of Corrales.

Holding the balloon in place while it deflates.

Preparing the balloon to be put in its storage basket.

Today was the last day of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, and it got rained out; however, Saturday morning I was on the field early, and got out among the balloons while it was still dark. The glow from the burners, flames and laser light show were like the 4th of July on the ground surround by balloons. Clouds blanketing the top of the Sandias were magical just before sunrise. All the balloons launched on Saturday.

While there happens to be an extra million people in Albuquerque for the Balloon Fiesta, Wagner's Farms is having their annual Apple & Pumpkin Festival. There were lots of people lined up for hay rides to the orchard just north of our property to pick apples. In the field on Dixon Road, behind the farm store, they had a pumpkin patch. At the farm store they had lots and lots of pumpkins, hot dogs and hamburgers, red chile ristras, green chile roasting and a band named Severo y Grupo Fuego was playing.  Laurie and I walked up to the Festival, Laurie got a caramel apple, and then we listened to a few songs before walking back home.

On our way to Wagner's, we stopped to get a photo of Laurie with our cattle ramp. Not everyone owns their own heirloom cattle ramp.

People on there way to the orchard to pick apples.

The pumpkin patch.

Red Chile Ristras

Roasting green chiles

Severo y Grupo Fuego

SEVERO MARTINEZ (lead vocals), ADRIAN MEDINA (keyboard) LENNY ROMERO (drums), CAMERON BOURG (bass) and ALBERT (ALBIE) TAFOYA (guitar)

SEVERO MARTINEZ

LENNY ROMERO

CAMERON BOURG

ALBERT (ALBIE) TAFOYA

Severo Grupo Fuego has a good sound. They played "La Cumbia Del Sapito" an old favorite of ours. Above is a video clip of them playing "La Cumbia Del Sapito".

"Un paso pa delante"

"y otro paraatras"

Bad parking starts with infancy.

The morning began with the earth shaking. Then...

Christ rose from the crowd.

While most of the regular balloons lifted off to compete in the day's ring toss and bean bag drop competition, many of the special shape balloons inflated but did not take off.

The cow balloon inflated.

Then they took it down and inflated a normal shaped cow balloon for the competition, I assume.

Rolling up the cow while the cow prepares for lift off.

This gangly green thing that spilled out into the road turned out to be a frog.

Doughboy, Frog, Pirate and Tom and Jerry.

A monumental Big Red Dog.

"Arizona, take off your rainbow shades" Mark Lindsay

The competition was to fly to the field or navigate back to the field and either toss a ring over a pole or drop a bean bag on an X.

The Albuquerque Police Department's horses were very popular.

Wednesday morning I borrowed an 8mm-15mm fisheye to super-wide-angle zoom lens from the Canon Tent. The weather was iffy, so when the green flag finally went up, giving the sign the balloonists could fly, it was after 8:00 am. The wind on the ground was brisk, so the balloons inflated by themselves or in small groups, then they took off as soon as the balloons were inflated, instead of inflating in large groups and lifting off in waves.

¡Adios muchachos, muchachas!

Maid in the Shade B-25J Bomber that was on display at the Double Eagle Airport on Albuquerque's Westside.

MAID in the SHADE is a B-25J is a twin engine medium bomber that was based out of Serraggia Airbase, Corsica from Nov 1 – Dec 31, 1944. She flew 13 bombing missions in Italy and 2 over Yugoslavia. B-25J Bombers where fast and used for low altitude strafe and skip bombing. It took 28 years to restore MAID in the SHADE, and all the people who worked on the original restoration have since died. One person involved with the bomber said they were particularly effective for sinking ships. The nose of the plane would be fitted with four 50 caliber machine guns. The bomber would fly just above the water under the target ship's fire, then the pilot would open fire with the four machine guns as he flew over the deck of the ship, and they would drop several small bombs with parachutes attached to slow the bombs hitting the ship to allow the bomber to get out of the way before the bombs exploded. He said they were 100% effective in sinking ships. You can read more about MAID in the SHADE and how she got her name at: https://www.azcaf.org/b-25j-maid-shade-got-name/.

The doors on the bomb bay are signed by various people who served in WWII. One signature is by Betty Hayes as "Rosy the Riveter". She worked in the plant in Kansas City, KS in 1942 according to an article about her and Maid in the Shade by Carole Ann McKelvey in the Montrose Daily Press News in 2016. You can read about Betty at: https://www.montrosepress.com/news/forget-about-rosie-montrose-has-it-s-own-betty-the/article_a3a03f68-74b2-11e6-afb9-030d9344559f.html.

 

The model for the nose art was selected from a contest. There is the right side of the plane.

Rosy the Riveter (1994 is when she signed the bomb bay door)

This is the left side of the plane, which is slightly different. Can you see the difference?

The left bomb bay door with all the signatures including Rosy's.

Right and left side nose art.

The wind was to strong for the balloons to fly today, so they just all inflated on the field. That allowed me to get the different faces of Vincent.

All burners on for the National Anthem.

The owl balloon is from Great Britain.

Yoda and Señor Vader.

Canon is the official sponsor.

The Rio Grande is very low, and reflective.

The 47^th Annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta kicked off today with major traffic snarl starting in the wee hours of the morning. Our intention was get to the field by 5:30 am so we could get on the list for a balloon ride. However, it seemed all of Albuquerque wanted to get on the field this morning and the cars were backed up for two or three miles in every direction. I determined we were not going to get on the field before 6:00 am, let alone 7:00 am, before the balloons would launch. I managed to get out of the traffic jam, and took the long way around to get back home. We walked out on to the river, watched and photographed the balloons in the sky with a few touching down on the water and mudflats, while kayakers, canoers, and paddle boarders floated down the Rio Grande, often getting stuck in the shallow places along the way.

This is the first time I'd seen an owl balloon. I was hoping it would land in the river, but it flew over us to the west and disappeared behind the trees — typical owl behavior.

The other people on the river told me I was occupied photographing other balloons when Van Gogh was facing us, so I only ended up getting him in profile.

Kitty balloon across from the paddlers.

The lead flotilla of the "Spanish Armada" of kayaks, canoes, and paddle boards that followed.

The armada heading our way.

They overtake the kitty balloon.

The kitty balloon buzzes the paddlers.

The last paddle boarder fell off his board and got swamped. He was still chasing after the board when he rounded a bend in the river and disappeared. We visited with other people on the river for a few more minutes and then walked home. 

98% full moon rising Sunday evening. It was too dark to get detail in the moon and detail in the landscape.

Full moon looking like a bright star over the Sandias and Rio Grande on Monday night.

Full moon through the screen and kitty wire on the east facing bedroom window.