Five Things to Do This Weekend
1 Drive through Dixon. The apple trees in Dixon have been picked, but its artists’ studios are in full bloom for the 42nd annual Dixon Studio Tour. On Friday from 5 to 7 p.m., and on Saturday and…
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Tag: Hot-Air Balloon
Take Flight in a Hot-Air Balloon
W HEN BONNIE JELINEK attended last year’s 50th anniversary Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta, it was a huge check off her bucket list. So imagine the Plano, Texas, resident’s joy when her…
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Join a Hot-Air Balloon Chase Crew
LOOK UP ON ANY CLEAR DAY in Albuquerque, and you might spot a colorful globe drifting across the sky. “The balloons would land on the dirt road down the street from us,” says Michael Kerns, who grew…
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Meet This Legendary Balloon Pilot
JIM AHERN’S BALLOONING CAREER was peaking right as things were starting to take off. “I was in the airline business before ballooning,” recalls the 84-year-old. “Back in 1978, ballooning was just a…
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Balloon Fiesta Takes You Up, Up, and Away
AT 5 A.M., DARKNESS HANGS LIKE A CURTAIN over Albuquerque’s Balloon Fiesta Park, hiding the riot of colors, shapes, and sounds about to be unveiled in the morning light. For now, you and the thousands…
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Balloon Pilot Reaches New Heights
RAY BAIR FOLLOWED WHAT HE CALLS a “natural sequence of steps” into ballooning—from spectator to crewman to balloon owner to pilot. In 1973, Bair and his wife, Carol, attended the very first World Hot…
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Five Things to Do This Weekend
1 Elevate your weekend. The La Mesa Airfield in Ratón hosts the International Santa Fe Trail Balloon Rally this weekend. Balloons lift off daily at 6:30 a.m. Saturday through Monday. The Ratón Elks…
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What We're Reading: Sky Rider
ON JULY 4, 1882, six-foot-tall, 225-pound Park Van Tassel lifted off from Albuquerque’s Old Town in a hot-air balloon that was dangerously inflated at only two-thirds capacity. It was the first…
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Datebook: December 2021
HOLIDAY BAZAARS OFFER A CHANCE to find that quintessential handmade–in–New Mexico treasure, the one that will be cherished by far-flung friends for years to come. Get your wallet out and chart a…
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Photo Tips for the Balloon Fiesta
WHILE NOTHING LIFTS THE SPIRIT QUITE like the colorful balloon-filled skies of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta’s mass ascension, we’re here for all of it: the balloon rodeos, dawn…
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