Festival of Ballooning
The 33rd Annual Quickchek Festival of Ballooning was not exactly what I had expected. The website was very vague so we went in thinking that we would see balloons all day, but it was actually more of a state fair with a balloon launch at the end of the day. So we arrived early not knowing this then had to trek through this state fair in the blazing sun to kill time until the balloon launch which was scheduled for 6:30 but did not happen until some time after 8. I did not mind this though because we caught a bit of the sunset in our photos, but waiting so long in a really annoying crowd of parents and their kids was not delightful.
The balloons were amazing, although some of them had trouble getting up so we didn't get to see them until we were on the bus line to go home. The blue whale balloon was being dragged by the wind at one point (aiming for the NJIT stand) and the people on that crew struggled to keep it from lifting off prematurely. Its crazy how unpredictable they can be, with just a small pick up in the wind this balloon went haywire. It took them a little to recover and they finally got inflated, but I don't think they took off.
They debuted a Yoda balloon this year with their Darth Vader balloon. The Yoda balloon was really goofy looking, but the Vader one was really cool, although it had a tough time taking off too. When it finally did take off, it was facing away from the crowd, but then it spun to face us which was pretty awesome with the Emperor's Theme playing.
I probably wouldn't go again because I am not a fan of state fair type settings with all the children and parents around, but if there ever is a strictly hot air balloon viewing event, I would be down.
(On the drive there, a motorcycle pulled up next to us on 78 and he put his hand on his hip, so I brought out my camera to photograph him when he turned and made eye contact with me. I snapped the photo and I have to say it is probably my best candid portrait yet.)
