My Adventure in Service: Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

If you like hot air balloons, then you definitely need to visit Albuquerque in October. For nine days beginning with the first weekend of October there are various balloon flights and competitions. The competitions are during the day or evening, but if you want to see the balloons take off in the morning you better get up early. We left our house a little before 6 a.m. - the balloons were scheduled to take off at 7 a.m. - we live about 15 minutes from Fiesta Park. We arrived at the park at 7:30 a.m. - we sat in traffic 1 ½ hours - and the balloons took off before 7 a.m. Even arriving that late there were still many balloons to watch take off.

Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is the largest annual event in the United States. 700 balloons launch from a 356 acre field. In all shapes and sizes, from all over the world. It is an incredible site. You can also volunteer to help in a variety of capacities - chase crew, Balloon Discovery Center, concessions, etc. We helped out in the Balloon Discovery Center - no experience necessary. They taught us what we needed know. You can learn how the baskets are hand-woven, how to land balloons using computer games and a virtual reality game, balloon trivia and kids can make crafts. There’s also a basket with a “balloon” attached you can take your picture in. All-in-all a fun place to visit.