Well, all I can say is I took 250 pictures between Friday night’s balloon glow and Saturday morning’s sunrise balloon launch. Not much sleep, but I wouldn’t have missed a minute of the Saratoga Balloon and Craft Festival’s festivities. (WARNING: I shared a ton of pics in this post. A ton.)
We arrived at approximately 7:00pm Friday night, giving us plenty of time to wander around and check out the crowds, food vendors, entertainers and children’s activities, before the balloon glow which was scheduled for dusk.
There were lots of families there and plenty of activities and events for the kids. I stopped by and checked out the pony rides, the petting zoo, the face painting, the balloon lady, a magician and a balancing act. There were a LOT of very happy and excited children!
It was definitely a great family night out.
Eventually, I noted the balloons being laid out on the ground in preparation for both the launches and the balloon glow. Both are completely dependent on the weather and wind for safety reasons, and Friday night turned out to be a beautiful evening…complete with a spectacular sunset and random clouds that provided a beautiful and dramatic backdrop.
When I got home Friday night, my intention was to go to bed by 11:00pm so that I could easily wake up by 4:30 to get ready to head back for the early morning balloon launch. Unfortunately, it got to be closer to midnight before I could nod off and then, for reasons that completely escape me, I woke up at 3:30 and could not fall back to sleep. So I started the day on only 3-1/2 hours of sleep, but I made it out the door by 5:00am to head back to the Saratoga Co. Fairgrounds.
It was so worth the lack of sleep and early morning departure!
I’ve seen many people complaining on FB…saying that they were disappointed that there were no balloons launched when they were there on Saturday or Sunday at particular times, but in all honesty, I have to say that, when I checked out the Saratoga Balloon and Craft Festival website, they repeatedly said, “Ballooning is highly weather dependent. Check Facebook for flight status.” I understand that I was very lucky with both of my visits this weekend. The weather was perfect and the views were spectacular, but I certainly would have understood (and even expected based on the website precautions) if they could not launch because of unsafe situations due to weather. It’s a chance you have to take when attending a balloon festival.
As I was frantically snapping away at all the balloons that were filling the sky in every direction, I suddenly heard a very loud WHOOSH and looked up and, directly above my head, was this awesome sight, which turned out to be my favorite shot of the morning:
So much blue!
I know I am sharing an incredible number of photos, but it was just so hard to select only a few when I really wanted to share EVERYTHING here. The fact that I narrowed it down to 55-60 out of the hundreds of photos I took was a huge feat. Hopefully, you enjoy looking at them all as much as I enjoyed being there and taking all these beautiful shots.
Also…just want to mention that Frozen Moments is on both Facebook and Instagram. You can find me here:
Instagram: https://instagram.com/fromo_toga/