Crewing Squirt the Fire Hydrant for Friday's Special Shape Glowdeo at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

The winds are calmer at 6:00 pm.  Pilots get the go ahead to inflate their balloons for the Special Shape Glowdeo on Friday.  Eric, Kathy, Dave and I are part of Squirt's crew for this event.






Darth Vader starts
to rise...

Other balloons are laid

out and start to

inflate.

Sahuaro Grande Dude
& Mr. Z are inflating.

The back side of Angry Bird

 & Pegleg Pete are up &

standing nearby.

Eric hams for the camera
as Squirt inflates.







The sky darkens.  Six, sometimes seven people hang on to the tethered Squirt. Sometimes we are lifted from the ground by HUGE fire hydrant during the Special
Shape Glowdeo.  As I hang my weight over the edge of the balloon basket,
I see a lot of its floor.

This is the only picture I

got during the Glowdeo.

I see Puddles and his pal and the backside of Neptuno.

JF fires Squirt's burners as instructed.  The crowds ooh and aah.

Fireworks go off as we are
packing Squirt.

Eric and I say goodbye to JF and Ian and start our walk back to the RV Grounds.  The lines for the buses are soooo long.  Dave, Kathy, Eric and I decide to walk the mile back to the RV Grounds, probably beating many Fiesta goers back to their RVs.