Last week I decided more or less on the spur of the moment to go to The Great Reno Balloon Race. Both of my photography groups were going, and I figured it sounded like fun, so why not? I mean, it’s not like I never go anywhere fun… ;-)
Seriously though, I’m SO GLAD I went!! Those of you who know me know my obsession fascination with transportation, and hot air balloons are no exception. Add to that the vividness of all of the colors and the beauty of balloons before and at sunrise, and the whole thing was one of the neatest things I’ve ever seen.
I’d only planned on going for one morning–I’d figured that the second morning, I’d stay at my hotel, sleep in, and then make it back home in time for my kickball game at 2:00 PM. Whoops. That didn’t happen… but I did get some lovely pictures, so that’s a start, right? :-p
I already posted the teaser picture a couple of days ago from the Dawn Patrol, so here’s a few more from Saturday. The full gallery is here.
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The best seat in the house for the sunrise.
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Inside view.
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Sunrise 1.
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Sunrise 2.
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Straightening up.
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American flag and the National Anthem.
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Looking up.
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Awakening the sleeping giants.
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Beginning of the mass ascension.
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Replica of the Breitling Orbiter 3, the first balloon to successfully circumnavigate the globe. Wikipedia article is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breitling_Orbiter_3 (You'll have to copy and paste the link because my HTML seems to not want to cooperate. Bleh.)
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Burners.
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Mass ascension. There were over 100 balloons there!
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Duck pond reflections. Incidentally, for a bit of Saturday morning adventure, I pulled a kid in a wheelchair out of there shortly after taking this picture... I swear it was like something out of a movie. Toddler with a broken leg was strapped in a wheelchair, I hear someone shout and see movement out of the corner of my eye, and the kid's bumping down the slope toward the water, hits the edge, and faceplants in. Some guy and I jumped in and pulled the chair out. Poor kid was covered in algae, but other than being totally scared, he was fine. The mom... not so much, and I don't blame her. And her other kid (probably four or so) was so scared he wet his pants. Whew.
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