international balloon festival

Last week Jeff had his "Fall Placement Break" for school, and I had fall break myself.  We decided to take advantage of the time that we both had off and spend it together.  Our schedules right now don't quite line up, so we aren't able to spend as much time together this semester as we would like.  It was refreshing to have a weekend together.  

If you know me, I always look for opportunities to go to trips, whether they are big or small, I always love a fun get-a-way.  We had heard about the International Balloon Festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico from some of Jeff's cousins who absolutely love it, so we thought we would check it out ourselves.  Our available dates lined up perfectly with the dates of the event... so this was the year to experience it!

I love road trips.  I love taking the "scenic route" and just enjoying the journey on the way there.  Since we were driving to New Mexico, I started thinking about what fun places we could stop on our way.

Early Friday morning (4:30am) we headed out, taking Jeff's brother Justin and his cousin Matt with us.  Our first stop we made was at Arches National Park in Moab, UT.  Sadly, it was closed because of the government shut down.  We continued on with our journey and stopped at the Four Corners.  Luckily it is a Navajo Nation Park so it was open!

in all 4 states

the 4 of us that drove down

The four corners was not the most exciting place to visit, but it definitely was fun to see and check off my bucket list.

We arrived in Albuquerque, New Mexico during the afternoon on Friday and were able to spend time with some of Jeff's relatives.  During our vacation, we stayed at Jeff's cousin Lindsey's house with her husband Dan and their 3 children.  Jeff's cousin Nate was also visiting Albuquerque with his wife and 3 children from Colorado.  All fourteen of us stayed at the Stewart's house and had a blast together!  We talked, laughed, ate TONS of Mexican and New Mexican food, went to the balloon festivities, and just enjoyed being together.

Saturday was full of lots of balloon festivities.  We woke up dark and early, and headed to the Balloon Fiesta Field at 4:00am.  We arrived around 4:20am and began having a tailgating breakfast. 

Stella & Justin staying warm in the car

Lindsay & Dan made us breakfast

Matt, Alex, & Jeff

Jeff & I

Sarah & Nate

around 5:30 it was still dark, but they began blowing up balloons

the balloons filled the sky and it was BEAUTIFUL against the sunrise

all of us Davis cousins

Justin & Jeff

I love these two

the boys

brothers

the sun finally came out!

After our morning balloon festivities, Lindsey and Dan took us on a tour of Albuquerque.  It was fun to see around the city!  A few hours later, it was time for round 2 of the Balloon Festival.  At 3:30pm we headed back to the balloon field for the Glowdio.  This is where all of the balloons fill up with air and are tethered to the ground.  They pull the propane lever to make them glow up against the dark sky.  It was fun to walk around and get a closer look at the balloons, and then it was beautiful when they were all lit up!

there were hundreds of balloons!

the sun was so pretty reflecting off of them as it was setting!

what a fun memory!

personally, I loved the special shaped balloons

lit up

it was hard to capture them all lit up because we were too busy enjoying it ourselves!

at the Glowdio

the original Davis cousins -- Jeff, Justin, Lindsey, & Matt

We loved our time in Albuquerque.  It was short and sweet, but we had such an enjoyable time!  The International Balloon Festival is definitely worth seeing and I am glad that we were able to experience it with "true ballooners" (Lindsey & Dan).  They sure know how to go "all out" for the event and make it tons of fun!

On our way back home, Arches National Park was opened so we made one last stop.

Balancing Rock

the 3 boys

Delicate Arch

 This was my first time at Arches National Park and I was thrilled to finally see Delicate Arch.  It is beautiful!

Thanks for such and fun-filled weekend Davis cousins!