I think it was at about mile 15 from civilization (civilization being defined as two cars passed in the canyon), when I noted how amazing it was to see this much space. 

“They don’t really have things like this on the East Coast, do they?”

For point of reference, we were precisely in the exact middle of nowhere with the nearest bit of human life being the National Rifle Association’s New Mexico location about 35 miles north on Highway 64, with another hour’s drive or so until our dinner restaurant (aka Mexican fast food within a gas station). To the left were mountains but to the right was expansive desert. So, the answer was obviously no. No, we do not have this sort of thing back on the East Coast. We do not have room for hundreds of miles of empty land or deserts or highways with no cars. This is the amazing thing about living out west.

We were driving on this ‘middle of nowhere’ path because we had just spent the weekend in Albuquerque for the International Balloon Fiesta. These are the kinds of things you can do living out west, but “they don’t really have things like this on the East Coast.”

The Balloon Fiesta is 43 years old and has escalated from its first year with 13 balloons to currently showcasing the world’s largest hot air balloon takeoff with 500+ across 365 acres at “Balloon Fiesta Park” in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Below is our journey from sunrise to sunset, as balloon launches happen at 6am and 6pm.