Every October there is a hot air Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque. This year there was a double treat. On the 14th there would be an eclipse of the sun at nearly the same time. So we decided to get up early and head for Albuquerque to see the two spectacles. At 5:30am we left the house.
By 6:30 we arrived within two miles of Balloon Fiesta Park and got in line behind a two and a half mile long traffic jam. We waited and waited while slowly inching along the freeway to the entrance of the park. Along the way we were treated to the sight of dozens and dozens of ballons rising in the morning light. Each blast of propane illuminated the dark balloons like Chinese lanterns. After two hours of crawling on the freeway we get to the entrance only to be told the parking lot was full! It was annoying as we had tickets to the event.
So we high tailed it to a local park to watch the rest of the balloons fill the air. Then about an hour later we turned our chairs to face the sun and watch the eclipse. It was an hour affair for the moon to cross in front of the sun. All that was remaining to see of the sun was a giant glowing ring peeking around the moon. Surprisingly, the surrounding light still remained quite strong and bright. We had expected a total blackout which hadn’t materialized. Instead the ambient temperature dropped very precipitously. Still, we were both glad to have seen these two celestial events.
