On the last morning of the Balloon Fiesta, the weather was looking iffy again, but fortunately conditions improved, so they were able to finish the fiesta in style.

But first, coffee:

We caught the drone show again:

Then we headed out onto the field, and found a spot right next to the only balloon preparing to inflate (they skipped the pre-dawn glow, due to the weather):

A cool morning, but we were suddenly nice and toasty for some reason:

Previously the first balloon took off with the flag attached, during the national anthem. But today the “zebras” just held the flag next to the balloon; it didn’t take off yet:

But soon afterwards, the flag was green, and all the other balloons started to inflate (and hey look, somewhat blue skies!):

We tried not to be too bitter about the people who got to have a balloon ride today, after ours was cancelled the the previous day:

Jenn got a trading card for a few balloons, including this interesting one:

Another trading card:

A fun chase vehicle:

Mounted police:

We noticed a balloon with a NZ flag on the rope:

On the way back to our coach, we saw a balloon flying low over the balloon museum:

They dropped an anchor rope:

And came in for a landing in the parking lot:

Our coach was nearby:

They then deflated:

And wrapped the balloon envelope:

That concludes the 2022 balloon fiesta, our first attendance. We’ve already adjusted our travel plans for 2023 to be back for next year’s fiesta, hopefully for the whole time. And we’ll again try to have a balloon ride, too. Hopefully next year will have better weather than this year.

Next, a video timelapse of our view of that parking lot from our coach, including balloons going over our coach.