Linda spied somethin’ on the local news last night that sparked our interest. It seems that in Meadville, PA they are holdin’ the 23rd Annual Thurston Classic Hot Air Balloon Festival. Last night they lit up the night sky with eight ground tethered balloons and this evening they were having a balloon launch.
We have always wanted to see the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, but it is in early October & we always seem to be in another part of the country then, we’ll make ‘er someday. After lookin’ at the prices for camping at that Fiesta grounds, I need to find us some boondockin’ spot nearby. What they call ‘Standard RV Parking’ with NO HOOKUPS is $30 per day, CHOKE, CHOKE. Boondockin’ for Thirty Dollars a day? That doesn’t include admission to the grounds either.
Well the balloon festival today was free and you know I say free is always easier on the budget. But first a stop for some Mexican food to fill our tummy's so we don’t starve watchin’ the balloons.
We arrived at the field at Allegheny College where the event was to take place, early enough to get a good parkin’ spot and seat. The launch was set to go up at 6PM so we found a nice spot on a hill overlookin’ all the balloon crews.
This was the crowd early on.
Sorry that picture’s a little washed out but I was shooting into the sun. We waited till the appointed hour of 6PM. Nobody was moving, no balloons were comin’ out, no fans for inflation, no nuthin’! So we waited some more, 6:15, 6:30, 6:45 we were ready to go. Everyone was wonderin’ what the holdup was. I thought they were waitin’ cause folks kept streamin’ into the field & by now things were getting’ crowded. We decided we had waited long enough and got up to head back to the truck where we could be more comfortable (Somebody forgot to bring lawn chairs) and watch the balloons after they launched. We didn’t get to far when the crowd started raisin’ a ruckus. the balloons were comin’ out and shortly they started to launch one after the other.
They just kept comin’ one after another till there was a sting of balloons crossin’ the sky.
There are eleven in this photo. If ya’ click on the photo it will open in a new, larger window so it can be viewed easier.
This here’s a little video I shot with my Kodak Z650.
They even had a balloon partially inflated on the ground that you could walk inside to get a feel for how big these things really are.
Well I think they launched 33 balloons in the flight, quite impressive. Still would like to see the ‘BIG’ show in New Mexico.
We left the balloons to float across the sky. Hey they were “Dancin; on the Wind, just like us. We headed west towards Linesville and Ray’s Market. Linda had seen an ad for Ray’s and we had to go and check out some of the ‘bargains’. We did buy some ground round at a good price, but they were getting’ ready to close and we didn’t have much time to shop, Those durn’ late balloonists. Oh well better luck next time.
Stopped at a Subway sandwich shop on the way back for a Chipotle Chicken & Cheese sub, the $5 featured sub this month. It was pretty good with the pepper jack cheese we put on it. Then it was back down the road the twenty eight miles back to Titusville to our rollin’ condo.
Well that’s all for this chapter in our travels, so I will say “Vaya con dios”. Hope to see ya’ down the road as were;
Those are so much fun. We just went to our first one a few weeks ago in Decatur , GA. We will be looking for more of these events.
ReplyDelete