We leave a little late on Thursday since it isn’t very far to our destination. We will check into the hotel and relax a little before heading up to the Balloon Festival. The festival is similar to a “fair” atmosphere. There are vendors with food and shops surrounding the field. The balloons are inflated on the field. You can wander around the field and talk to the balloonist or just sit on the edges, enjoying the view from a great location. We will have a special parking permit so that we can park very close to the field.
There will be four festival events to attend. The evening glow on Thursday and Friday and the morning lift offs on Friday and Saturday. There can be as many as 900 balloons lifting off in the mornings. It is truly a spectacular sight. You will take so many pictures because the balloons are always changing positions. This weekend is also the special shapes weekend. Some of those shapes will include a dairy cow, a stagecoach, a daisy, coke and pepsi cans, old woman in a shoe with children, wine bottle, purple people eater and chili peppers.
In the afternoon on Friday we will go downtown for lunch and some shopping. There is a space/air museum and an art museum close to the downtown area for those that do not like to shop. We all like to eat though and there are some great restaurants to choose among.
The cost is $575 per person, two per room, $695 for a single room.$100 guarantees your space. An additional deposit of $250 per person is due by Sept. 5th. The remainder is due prior to the trip. The cost includes transportation, lodging, festival events and breakfast each morning.
