Tag Archives: hot air balloons

Maybe New Mexico?

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Santa Fe, New Mexico

I haven’t ignored my vacation planning completely while I’ve been being domestic. I’ve been considering New Mexico. My time share has a resort in Santa Fe called, what else, Villa de Santa Fe. The Web site says “ Take a colorful journey to the base of the breathtaking Sangre de Cristo Mountains at Villas de Santa Fe. Discover Indian pueblos, historic sites, Spanish colonial art or stunning adobe churches and architecture”.
More searching indicates that the best time of year to visit is September to November.  That fits with the Big Balloon Festival in Albuquerque.

Villas de Santa Fe

Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

In 2023 the Balloon Fiesta is scheduled for Oct 7 -15. so it falls right in the sweet spot for visiting Santa Fe. According to google maps the drive is 62 miles and should take about an hour of actual drive time. There are a lot of stops you can make along the way so I would need to try not to get side tracked or distracted.  The balloons fly in the early morning or the late afternoon/evening so lots of time during the day for exploring.

Photographers — Albuquerque Balloon Fest Insider Tours

Loretto Chapel

Located in Santa Fe, Loretto Chapel was built around 1873 by the Sisters of Loretto. I remember visiting the Spanish Missions when I visited San Antonio, TX and really enjoyed them.  Loretto Chapel has a so called miraculous staircase. Its a 20-foot-high circular stairway to the choir loft built by a wandering carpenter after the chapel itself was completed in 1878. The carpenter used wooden pegs (not nails) and the staircase itself has no visible means of support. They say it is hard to get pictures of the staircase as there are always so many tourists admiring it but I’d love to try.

Bandelier National Monument

I’m not sure if I am up to the physical part of this but I sure want to try. At the base of Frijoles Canyon are a collection of ancient cave dwellings and other stone structures belonging to ancestors of the Pueblo tribe. Explore the settlement by following the paved trail through the village and climbing the wooden ladders into the caves themselves.

Visit Bandelier National Monument for History and Hummingbirds - Birds and Blooms

Roswell

It seems like a trip to New Mexico wouldn’t be complete without a stop in Roswell where the modern UFO era began. Unfortunately Roswell isn’t just around the corner. It’s almost 200 miles and a 3 hour drive and that’s without stops along the way. I guess that is one that would have to be “played by ear”. 

Winter Park Colorado

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Winter Park Colorado

I’m still counting down the resort options I have for  Colorado. Next up is Winter Park Colorado. Just by the name I’m betting it’s another ski resort. It’s a pretty familiar name too. I think It’s been in my choice list for awhile. Lets see what I can find out about a Winter Park Vacation. 

 

 

 

 

Summer In Winter Park, Colorado

It sounds like Winter Park is one ski town that has decided to embrace summer. The list seems endless. Toping the list is, of course, hiking. That seems to be a number one recreation at most of the resorts.  And why not?    Colorado is known for it’s beauty and majestic mountains.  But there sure seems to be more   than just hiking.  For example you could go flight seeing.  Aerial flight tours depart daily from Granby airport. Fly high above the valley floor to see the majestic Rocky Mountains, Continental Divide and numerous high alpine lakes.      

Maybe Ballooning?

Maybe small planes make you nervous? How about a scenic balloon ride. These look pretty popular. https://www.grandadventureballoon.com/  And the scenery looks breathtaking don’t you think?

 

 

 

Enjoy a taste of the West

Summer in the Rocky Mountains is Rodeo time and Winter Park carries on that tradition. Get a unique perspective on Western history and culture in the Rocky Mountains, and attend one of Winter Park’s signature Western events.

Whether your group includes young children or older adults, there’s plenty of fun and excitement to be had at the High Country Stampede Rodeo and the Middle Park Fair & Rodeo!

 

For the full experience, start in the late afternoon with mutton busting (little-want-to-be-cowboys kids riding sheep till they slip off), and then grab a delicious BBQ dinner before the main event. Roping cowboys, rodeo queens, bucking broncos and clowns—you won’t want to miss a thing.

Scenic drives

If the “Old West” doesn’t interest you maybe a scenic drive or two . You are only 37 miles from Rocky Mountain National Park where you can find  359 miles of trails, 150 high-alpine lakes, 60 species of mammals, more than 750 camping spots. Oh I wish I’d started traveling when I was younger! 

A Day in The Life

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It’s Saturday! One of the two days a week I get to find local adventures. Not only that but it’s another super warm day and its still February. The snow has melted and I’m itching to go. But wait, it’s also tax season and although I already took my paperwork to my tax guy, I just got 2 new items needed for this year’s taxes.

First stop the gas station. Boy there sure is a lot of traffic today. Finally with a full tank I make it to Stoughton MA where I drop off the new paperwork. It’s way later than I expected.

I dash out of his office  with minimal chit chat. Back in the car I’m headed to Hanover/Norwell MA to get a passport photo taken and pick up some prints of my whale and also of a photo I sold recently.

Baby Whale Breach

Yup I’ve been a published photographer for awhile now but never been paid. (I’m not bragging, just thrilled)

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Miami Dade Sun Sentinel

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Boston Globe

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Boston Globe

Back in January I was contacted by a marketing firm to purchase the rights to one of my photos.  I was thrilled and even happier when they agreed to pay me for it. I happened to think that I should print a copy for my portfolio.  Since I signed the rights away I’m not sure I can show it here. A bank in Seattle is planning to enlarge it to wall size to decorate their lobby…or so they say. I am supposed to be notified once it’s done. I think there may be a trip back to Seattle in my future.

On the way Joe called. He’s just moved back to the north country from Sunny Florida. He wasn’t having any better luck than I was getting out of the house. We’d loosely planned to get together for a photo shoot.  We decided it just wasn’t meant to be. Another day, another time.

When I arrived at the photo processing lab the owner who takes all of the passport photos was tied up so I picked up my prints and ran down the street to a photo store to ask about filters.

That took about an hour but was very educational. By this time lunch was way over due. I made a quick stop at Wendy’s and returned for the passport mug shot…I mean photo. I guess you aren’t allowed to smile any more. I was smiling in my old photo but they told me no smiling this time.

That’s very hard because I know these guys and they always make me laugh. I ended up looking like I  had just sucked a lemon but no smile!

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I still had to do some grocery shopping and I had not taken 1 picture. Where did the day go?

So now you know why I never seem to have any time except when I go on vacation. Maybe tomorrow will be the day for the next local adventure. I hope so or you may be bored with another post like this.

They Call It Moonglow

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Moonglow. Not a super moon.

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At the 40th Anniversary Balloon Festival it was 3 tethered balloons glowing  in the dark. The photo that resulted is one of my favorites . The Boston Globe newspaper liked it too as it was featured “above the fold” in one of the Sunday editions.

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The “Moonglow” was my main reason for attending the Festival this year. As much as I like the photo from 2012, I felt that I could do better. I wanted another try. This year they planned on more than 3 balloons. Moonglow was going to be at the airport. It was scheduled for 8 pm Saturday night.

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There was also a 5 pm launch but as we arrived at the airport we learned that the 5 pm launch had been grounded due to high wind gusts. Disappointing but not a disaster. After all we had loads of pictures from Friday evening’s launch.

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We set up our lawn chairs and settled in to wait. The breeze was pretty stiff and it began to get chilly but we hung in there. We were hoping that if the balloons were tethered maybe they’d still be able to pull off the Moonglow.

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Alas, it was not to be. About 7:30 the chase teams began to pack up. They moved the baskets to the tarmac and lined them up. To a rousing sound track they sent propane flames skyward but no balloons.

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The Festival was over for us.

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There was a final launch scheduled for dawn on Sunday but we had no plans to attend that one.

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So I will leave you with a few more photos from Friday night

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And the promise that I will try again another year to capture that perfect “moonglow” picture.

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“Would you like to fly in my beautiful balloon????”

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They came in Waves

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2 years ago we thought the show was pretty good but this year the launch far out-shown anything from 2012.

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I don’t know how many balloons made it up but they launched in waves. You watched them drift overhead and turned to follow them out of sight only to turn around to more balloons lifting into the air. We heard the goal was to get 80 balloons in the air. I think they made it.

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Music filled the air providing a sound track to the spectacle. Each balloon was unique. Bright colored traditional balloons rose side by side with whimsical animals and even a sci-fi Icon.

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Yes , there was even an 85 ft, 600 lb black balloon that struck fear in the hearts of the rebel alliance. Darth Vader himself rose from the ground to the strains of the Star Wars Overture. Darth was definitely the celebrity  of the day. Sadly he remained tethered and we never got to see him soar.

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Once of my favorite images was when a brightly colored balloon seemed to rise over Darth Vader ‘s helmet like a tiny moon. Several looked like they might not clear his 85 ft. height.

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Right next to us was large black and white balloon that turned out to be a giant Panda!

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As the balloon inflated children romped in its shadow.  What a thrill to be so close to the behemoth as it inflated!

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I was too close and then I wanted to zoom in on a more distant balloon. I was juggling lenses every few shots! Now I know why the photography team all hand at least 2 cameras around  their necks. Maybe next time I’ll have that extra camera too.

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