The Balloon Festival

This past weekend was the Adirondack Balloon Festival.  It sounded like it was going to be pretty awesome, my mom was visiting and usually I just put her to work and she deserved a break, so we decided to go.  It was a four day event and we picked Friday evening.

We arrived at the airport in Queensbury and waited anxiously for the balloons to take off.  The website promised 80+ balloons at 5:00 pm.  We spread out a blanket and waited...

And waited...

Finally at 5:30 some balloons inflated...

but it was too windy for them to take off.  After dragging a baby there we were pretty disappointed.  But oddly intrigued.  A few of the balloonists suggested that the next morning they would take off.  AND it might be foggy, which (contrary to what one might think) would be ideal balloon viewing conditions.

What the hay, we decided.  And woke up at 5:30 to be at the airfield at 6:30 to see the balloons take off.

Things I wish I'd considered:

-It always takes longer than usual to get a baby ready when you have to be somewhere.  We didn't leave until 6:15.

-Contrary to my thinking, hundreds of people chose to wake up ridiculously early on a Saturday to take their families to the airport.  There was a HUGE line of cars.

-We probably should have tried to find a back way to the airport.  The HUGE line hardly moved.

-We might have considered leaving earlier... as we were still in traffic 2 miles from the airport at 6:30 when the balloons were supposed to start.

-Much earlier... we were still a mile away when the balloons floated over our car.

We did finally get to park after sitting in the car for two hours.

There were still a few balloons inflated that weren't going to take off, and MiniM.E. seemed to have a good time.

Especially when we walked through the craft fair and stopped for a while at the kite stand.  She liked it so much that she cried when we left.  And so begins the "crying-and-flailing-when-it's-time-to-go-phase".

So... we decided since we'd already put so much effort in, we would try one last time on Sunday.  Sadly, my mom was back at home after two failed balloon sighting events.  Sorry Mom!

We got up earlier (at 4:30... though we still left later than we planned), found a back way to the airport, avoided the traffic and were waiting on the airfield at 6:00am.  Other than the fact that I have not experienced 50 degree weather in a while and assumed a light sweatshirt would be adequate clothing, it was worth getting up early to see.

AND next year, we'll be pros.