Balloon Races

The Reno Balloon Races. This is our second year attending. You get up at 4 A.M ( no I'm not kidding) and you have to make your own coffee cause Starbucks isn't even open yet. I know this because last year I just assumed that if I was awake then Starbucks was open, not so. You park in the dark and trek down thought the field. Then you see them. Glowing balls of red, yellow and orange. The sound of the roaring heat lighting up the whole balloon in the dark. You try to stand close to one of them to get a little heat. Then they start rising into the black sky. It is so beautiful. Then the sun starts to just peek out and they glow against the moring twilight. Then you take a break get some hot chocolate or a mimosa and the sun rises. Back to the field. The trucks start pulling in with their trailers and they unload the baskets and lay out the balloons like huge carpets. They bring out big fans and start to inflate the balloons. The best part is you can be right there and even touch the balloon, not behind a rope or fence but right there. They puff up taller than you are and then pop up. Pretty soon they float up and away. Then you look up and the sky is just filled with them. You can't help but smile the whole time because it is just so neat to be so close. We love it and will probably go every year we live here. It just doesn't get old.