October 10th, 2025
The second half of 2025 had us on a mission -- we had to get to the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque, New Mexico. We'd both spent a lot of our adult lives living in Denver, which is very close to Albuquerque. But, neither of us had ever been to the annual event. We were going to correct that oversight.
We were on the fence for a long time about the type of tickets to get and how to plan our day, assuming we would only go one of the days. The majority of people get the General Admission tickets so they can just wander around on the field of hot air balloons and on the main street of food and shopping tents. It sounded like a crazy time filled with people, but it was relatively inexpensive, even with fairly expensive parking.
In the end, we decided to get Gondola Club tickets. There are lots of options for packages where you have a guaranteed place to sit, a restroom just for that type of package, and parking. The Gondola Club seemed like a good balance of cost versus amenities, and it ended up being the best idea we'd had in ages.
We got up very early in the morning, because you need to get to the field and in your seats well before sunrise. The traffic on the way there was completely backed up, barely crawling until we got to our turn off. It was a road specifically to our private parking area, so that part was fast. We parked in our dedicated lot and got on a golf cart specifically to shuttle us to our seating. Handy! Margot took her wheelchair, and we brought lots of clothing layers. It's cold in New Mexico until the sun comes up.
They had gifts for us when we got there, including a solar-powered, copper hot air balloon decoration you can hang outside and a commemorative pin and bag. We found a seat at a great table on a small hill and set up our area. The table sat eight people, and we didn't really talk to anyone else.
The buffet was pretty good, just standard breakfast stuff. People served everyone in line, and of course there was green chili in and on everything (optional, of course). There was music playing and an announcer kept us up to date. Everyone cheered when they announced the morning was "green" and we were on (learn more about the lingo)!
It started with a single balloon, and then they all started going up, one after the other, for over an hour. It was a Special Shapes morning, so there were many balloons that looked like other things, from animals to a cement truck. That was the best.
We took a million photos, and here are the highlights!
At mid-morning, the balloons stopped going up. Some balloons didn't get to go, but it looked like most of them did. Then they had a competition where balloons came down on the field to toss rings over posts, the Ring Toss. We couldn't see most of it from where we sat, but it was cool to hear everyone cheering with the announcer.
We put together two videos using our 360-degree camera set on a tall pole at our table. It starts as the balloons start going up and ends as the Ring Toss started. One video is in real time, and it's an hour long. The other one shown below is sped up by four times, and it's only 15 minutes. Make sure you look up and around!
We spent the last of our morning wandering around the field watching them pack their balloons up to go. We spent about 15 minutes on Main Street and only bought a Coke. It was too crowded, and the lines for food were really long (we had the unlimited buffet, so we weren't hungry anyway).
We went back to the Gondola Club and hung out until it closed later in the morning. Then we took the shuttle back to the car and we were out. It was such an amazing day, and we wouldn't have done anything differently. This is one of those experiences we'll be talking about for the rest of our lives. Do it if you can!
