Balloominaria This Saturday Evening

As part of the Red Rock Balloon Rally, this year's Balloominaria will be taking place this Saturday evening at Rio West Mall in Gallup  It begins at 6:00.

This is the event where hot-air balloons are inflated and their envelopes are lit up. Spectators are allowed to wander around the inflated balloons. I went to it last year and it was well-attended. 

Above, last year's Balloominaria at Rio West Mall. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Balloominaria 2021

Above, the crowds enjoying Balloominaria in Gallup. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Part of the weekend's festivities around the Red Rock Balloon Rally in and around Gallup, New Mexico included a Christmas parade and the Balloominaria at the Rio West Mall. 

I didn't go to the Christmas parade, but I did go to the Balloominaria. This is where people in the community has a chance to get up close to the balloons involved in the Red Rock Balloon Rally.

I missed the one in 2019 (this was when I first heard about it) and last year's events were cancelled due to the pandemic.

It got cold outside pretty fast once the sun went down. I normally shun wearing a mask, but it actually came in handy to keep my face warm. Being near the hot air balloon burners also helped to warm me up.

I got to the site of the Balloominaria early, about an hour before its start time, and wandered around watching the various balloon crews get their balloons inflated. At that time, there weren't too many people there.

Once the event started, crowds started coming in and it got pretty crowded. One guy had his balloon basket with burners available for people to have their picture taken in the basket as he fired up the burners. A lady with another crew invited me to take photos of the inside of their balloon with the burners going.

All in all, it was a fun event with well-behaved crowds. I am looking forward to next year's Balloominaria.

Here's some photos from last night:

Balloominaria This Evening

Above, two early arrival balloonist groups. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

This evening, I headed over to the Rio West Mall in Gallup to view the hot air balloon Balloominaria. It is part of the weekend's Red Rock Balloon Rally event.

There were roughly (my guess) 3,000 to 4,000 spectators at the mall's parking lot. A section of it was cordoned off for about 15 to 20 hot air balloons. It seemed like half the population of Gallup was there, but the city's population is only 21,605.

There were many from Arizona. Some were very rude by cutting off drivers in the parking lot and blocking the exit lanes so they can sit and watch the balloons. They made it hard to exit the mall property.  Other than that, it was an enjoyable evening. I left before the hordes started leaving and block the streets.

I took many photographs this evening and some will be posted tomorrow.

The Guest Room Coming Together

Above, the new night stand, lamp and sofa bed. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Today was cold, but warm and sunny enough to venture out.

The first thing I did was to head over to the Flying J Travel Center to pick up my mail. Then, after that, I headed into Gallup to check out the town's mall, the Rio West Mall.

By Los Angeles standards, the Rio West Mall is on the small side with the only major department store being J. C. Penney. They had a number of small stores (Hot Topic was one of them) and a food court.

I went there to see about a night stand for the guest room (that will double as a library/den). I did manage to find a F.Y.E. video and music store. While there, I picked up the Universal Pictures Dracula Legacy Collection on DVD and a Blu-ray of Close Encounters of The Third Kind that contained the original theatrical version (I watched it tonight, the first time I've seen it in over 35 years), the "Special Edition" that came out in the 1980s and the "Director's Cut".

Seeing no furniture stores at the Rio West Mall, I headed out and after leaving the parking lot, I spotted a furniture store. I went in but didn't see anything that suited me.

I then decided to go over to the Furniture Warehouse, where I bought the sofa bed and dinette set. I found a night stand/end table that was just right and with a lower price than what I was seeing online.

They delivered the night stand this afternoon and it is now in place. A couple of weeks ago, I bought a table lamp for the guest room and finally unboxed it and put it in the guest room. The finished result is pictured at top.

Definitely a good day for getting things done.