9th Annual AZ Balloon Classic

This was my second year attending the 9th Annual AZ Balloon Classic. It is such an amazing sight watching hot air balloons take flight as the sun is rising. I really enjoyed walking around the field photographing the different hot air balloons, and meeting some of the different crews. Some of the hot air balloon crews have cool trading cards of their balloon, and it was my goal this year to collect as many different ones as I could. Last year, which was my first year attending the festival, I had only collected two trading cards. One I had found on the ground, and the other was given to me on our way out by a crew that I had stopped to talk to about the wind problems. This year I was able to talk to a lot of different crews and collect their trading cards, and there were no wind problems so all of the hot air balloons were able to fly both mornings.

The other special thing about this festival is the Balloon Glow. Last year because of the wind problems, the hot air balloons were only able to inflate and glow for a very short amount of time before they had to pack up for the night. This year the weather was perfect and all of the balloons were able to inflate and glow, and later flash their flames synchronized with music. It was really cool watching all of the hot air balloons glow like giant lanterns.

For the second year in a row, at the very end of the festival, we have made it our tradition to follow the path of one of the hot air balloons when we left. This year we decided to follow the hot air balloon "Sydney" till its landing. It is such a surreal feeling to watch a hot air balloon sail over roads, farms, houses, and fields. It is such a magical way to end the three day festival.

Those last three photos above are from when we chased the Sydney balloon until it's landing. During these flights, the roads are packed with Balloon Chase Vehicles.