Colorado Balloon Classic

The view when I left my house

If there is one thing that I know about myself, it is that I am not a morning person.  In fact, I am rather angry the first couple of hours that I have to be up; before I settle in to the day.  So only the lure of watching hot air balloons take off with my new 100 % friend (since we finally met in person!) Julie, could convince me to be up at 5 am and at her house on the other side of town by 6.  But it was totally worth it.  We were in the field with the balloons, close enough to touch them and certainly close enough to feel the heat from the flames.  Incredibly cool.

The Colorado Balloon Classic is the nation's second largest hot air balloon festival, taking place over three days and involving some 100 balloons.  They are launched in the morning, provided the wind conditions are suitable and at night, all the torches are lit on the field.  In between there are a ton of vendors at Memorial Park, and games and music acts going all day. I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

My absolute favorite picture!

After we watched a couple rounds of balloons take off, we walked over to Prospect Lake to watch the balloons try to outdo each other by touching the water and staying on its surface as long as possible.  Each time a successful water touch was made, the crowd let out a cheer.

We caught the first music act of the day, Andy something...:o), very Jason Mraz-like.  Yay! Totally a worthwhile morning to be up and out, and topped off with delicious pancakes and eggs back at Julie's.