Albuquerque Balloon Museum, and arrival at Balloon RV Park

On Thursday, September 25th, I went to SuperCuts to have my hair washed before heading to the RV lot near the Balloon Fiesta Grounds. I also stopped at the grocery store and at the propane dealer to get my propane tank filled. Because I volunteered to help set up the Balloon Discovery Tent on Saturday, September 27th, I was able to get into the RV lot a few days earlier, it opens to the public on Monday, September 29th. Currently, there are not many campers in the lot, by the weekend and throughout this event, there will be over 1,800 RVs. Sometimes 800 or so arrive in a day.

The RV lot volunteers made chalklines throughout the RV lot which is many acres in space, so that they know where to park the campers. It rained and washed their marks away. Sunday it was sunny, so they remarked the spaces. Then Sunday it rained and washed them away again, so they had to remark the field for the 3rd time. The building in photo on the right below is a General Mills cereal plant. They make Cocoa Puffs and some type of berry cereal. When they are baking the cereal we can smell the sweetness and flavor. At night when they burn off the ovens, it smells like burnt toast.

When I arrived at the RV lot, a RV park volunteer named Roy, who I met when I was here in 2011 and who I talk with periodically, showed me where to park my camper. Thankfully, it’s a level space near where I parked in previous years. It’s pretty convenient to the bus stops for the shuttle bus to the Balloon Fiesta, and not too far from water faucets and the garbage dumpster. I also saw and talked with several other volunteers that I met in previous years.

On Friday, September 26th, which happened to also be my 64th birthday, I went to the Balloon Fiesta office to see what items they have available. I always like to browse at the many items they have for sale. I was talking with one of the volunteers working in the gift shop and I was telling her about my website, what a surprise I had when I pulled up the website and saw that Pam had posted Birthday Wishes and a virtual cake and basket of flowers on my website. It really touched my heart. I had several phone calls and emails wishing me a happy birthday. How wonderful to have so many people care about me. I’m glad I made the trip out west, what a great way to celebrate my birthday again… at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta.

About mid-afternoon, a couple arrived at the RV lot and they were being parked next to me. It turns out that they told Roy that it’s their first time at the Balloon Fiesta and that they are volunteering at the Balloon Discovery Tent, so Roy parked them next to me. Their names are Erin and Joe, and their children are an eight year old boy named Zack and a six year old girl named Reagan. We talked for a while and since it is their first time here and also volunteering, I shared my experience with them and gave them some helpful hints and info that I found helpful during my previous two times here and also volunteering. While I was talking with them, a friend called to wish me a happy birthday. When Erin and Joe heard it was my birthday, Erin offered to bake a chocolate fudge type cake for me. I thought that was so nice of them. Roy called and said he made meatballs and spaghetti for dinner for a covered dish meal for the volunteers, and he invited me to come over and eat dinner with him before he brought the dish to the RV lot volunteer dinner. It was a nice birthday and what a surprise to have dinner and dessert made for me.

On Saturday, September 28th, Joe, Erin, Zack, Reagan, and I arrived at the Balloon Discovery Tent at 8:00 a.m. to help with setup. There were quite a number of volunteers and we did as much as we could with the items available. The tables and chairs and other items were not delivered yet, so we went back on Sunday and Monday to work more on getting the tent prepared for opening day on Saturday, October 4th. The Albuquerque Box table really needed some sprucing up so the five of us did that on Monday. It looks lots better than it did.

On Sunday, September 29th, after we finished with setup at the tent, Joe, Erin, and their children and I went to the Balloon Museum. It turns out on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. is free admission. Joe was taking panoramic pictures with his phone, he showed me how to do it on my phone. I’ve had my phone since 2011 and never knew I could take panoramic photos with it. It turns out that Joe knows a lot about computers and he helped me find a good tablet at a reasonable price. I’ve been wanting one for quite a while but didn’t know what one to buy. I ordered it and it should be delivered to my balloon pilots house on Monday. Joe said he will show me how to use it and install apps that I can use for various activities and also for things that will be handy when I travel.

Back to the Balloon Museum… We found it very interesting to read the storyboards throughout the museum. I really learned a lot that I didn’t know, not only about hot air balloons for the fiesta, but also how balloons were used during several wars, and for weather purposes. They had displays for balloons and other aircraft that went across the oceans and around the world. I took pictures of the storyboards and aircraft and they are in the album I posted. You can click on the pictures to read the stories. There are so many interesting stories, it would take lots of space and time to write all of them. I am only posting a few here, feel free to explore the album to read more.

One of the most surprising stories I read was about how over 1,000 school children in Japan were enlisted to make Fugo balloon bombs. They didn’t know that’s what they were making and many of the students when they got older were grief-stricken when they realized what happened. Here is one of the stories written in the display, there are several in this grouping, you can read them in my album.

Another display was about commemorative postage stamps with hot air balloons. I recognized these stamps because earlier this year my friend Jack in Fort Worth sent me a block of them he collected years ago, so I could add it to my door poster.

There is a sculpture of a girl and if you click on the photo, and look closely at the bright colored ribbon she is holding, you can see that it’s probably thousands of very tiny origami paper cranes connected together. Many years ago, when I lived in Fort Worth, I belonged to an Origami Club and we made lots of these cranes. I also made them when I traveled in airports and gave them to children who were waiting for flights.

There are hands on exhibits in the museum where people can attach pieces of fabric to make a balloon envelope, there is also a flight simulator where a person stands in a gondola basket and using the instructions on a sign virtually flies a hot air balloon and tries to land it on a target. This is an exhibit that gets moved to the Balloon Discovery Tent during the Balloon Fiesta. It’s one of the most popular exhibits. Zack and Reagan had fun  flying the balloon.

Next to the virtual balloon flight was a mural, when I looked more closely, it turns out it is a jigsaw puzzle. I have seen this puzzle at the jigsaw puzzle store near where I live. If I remember correctly, I think it’s a puzzle that has 32,000 pieces. If not, it has 25,000 pieces. It took volunteers about six months to assemble this puzzle. Most of the pieces are the same shape and not very large. I remember talking with the owner of the puzzle store and he says that when puzzles are very large in size, there are several bags in the box, each bag represents a section of the puzzle. Also, when I was looking in the museum gift shop, they had many puzzles, including several by Lori Schory who if you have been reading my posts know that she is now a friend of mine since I assemble many of her special shape puzzles. I sent her an email informing her that her puzzles are in the museum gift shop.

Friday, October 3rd, I will be crewing for Scott and we will be inflating a balloon at an elementary school so the children can see the balloon being inflated, and get in the balloon basket and have their pictures taken. It’s great to see their excitement when the balloon stands up and they can get close to it. I went with Scott in 2012 when we went to a different school.

The Balloon Fiesta begins Saturday, October 4th, so I will be crewing and volunteering through Sunday, October 12th. I will try to write another story sometime next week, if I get a chance.We have free afternoons Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. If you are wondering about how I’m feeling, I’m doing pretty well. I have had a few days when the pain was a bit intense. Thankfully, it was during the days before the Balloon Fiesta begins so I was able to take my medicine, nap and relax. If I hurt during the event, I will take my medicine and do what I can.