Great Reno Balloon Race

  Last month we went to The Great Reno Balloon Race. The Race is held for 3 days in a row and it is more of a series of competitions than an actual race to anywhere. We were told by some of the locals that the best part of the event is the morning glow, but that you have to get there really early to get a good spot. The morning glow started at 5am so we wanted to get there about 4 so we had time to walk the half mile to were the balloons were being launched from. In order to do this, we woke everyone up at 3am and got them dressed warm for the morning cool air. Our timing was pretty good, since we only had to wait about 10 min by the time we were seated for the show to start. The kids were pretty excited so they weren't too grumpy when they got woke up. Charles wasn't able to stay awake for even the 20 min drive to the races, but Adahleigh stayed awake until we made it back home.

   

We got a picture of everyone once Keisha woke up for her early morning snack.

   The morning glow consists of a few of the balloons being set up before sunrise and then they put on a light show to music by firing off their burners. The morning glow was definitely worth getting up that early for, even if we were up later the night before than usual because the kids wouldn't go to sleep. The other great thing about the races are they're completely free because of all the local sponsorship they get.
The Allstate balloon was the first up for the morning glow.

  The first set of balloon that were set up didn't actually take off, mainly because it was still to dark to be able see the ground  from the air to be able to land again. The second set of balloons did actually take off. We were able to get some pretty neat pictures durning the morning glow.

   Once the balloons took off we found out that we got one of the best places to sit, since all the balloon went right over our heads.

   Adahleigh thought it was great to see the balloons fly right over top of her.

   She was the only one other than Ash and I to enjoy the morning glow, since Charles and Keisha weren't able to stay awake for it. Charles went out like a light as soon as we got him all wrapped up and warm.

   I was really cool to see all the balloons lit in the sky.

Then watch them float off into the sunrise.

   They also allowed you to go down on the launch field and watch the ballooners set up their balloons and take off. We went out durning the second part of the morning glow show, but the pictures didn't turn out all that great. Between Adahleigh and Charles they got to see an entire balloon set up start to finish, their attention spans wouldn't allow for full set up start to finish. Adahleigh got a little grumpy about half way through from lack of sleep and wanted something to eat so I went and switched them out. The balloon that we watched get completely set up is just getting the basket out in the background.

   Then they added the burners and secured them.

   After the burner is set up, the pull out the envelope.

   And they stretch it out on the ground.

     Once the envelope is connected to the basket, the balloon is ready for cold inflation. This is done by using a large fan just to get the balloon half inflated so they can start using the burners to warm the air.

  This is the point were Charles had woken up and want to go check out what was going on.

   Like every kid when fires envolved, Charles also enjoyed watching the burners go to work and he go a front row seat.

   It didn't take long once they started using the burners to get the balloon upright.

  And here is the final result. All in all it took the crew about an hour to get the balloon upright, but some of that time was just waiting for a space to clear while other ballooners were putting their balloons up.

   After the morning glow and before the actual race started, they sent up a pair of balloons and the U.S. flag for the national anthem.

  It was a good thing it was a really calm morning with having these two balloons tethered together.

   Since it was Sept. 11 they also had an air squadron fly over honoring all the service men and women. The last play breaking away from the others represented soldiers that are MIA.

   I think the kids favorite part of the whole event wasn't the morning glow, but was the main launch. There were well over 50 balloons sent off within 30 min period.

   After being up for five hours (at least in Adahleigh's case) no one was all that interested in pictures anymore.

   Keisha woke up again once we were getting ready to leave and was willing to participate in some pictures, even though she is bundled up really good and you can't see much of her.

We figured that since we didn't put enough pictures in this post we'd throw two more in just to make the post complete.

This last one is on the way back to the car. It was a pretty good hike since most of the park parking was reserved for handicap parking.