Wheesht - Balloons!

A Scottish word normally used to shush someone, “wheesht” is the best word I know to describe the sound of a hot air balloon in flight.  For me, it has become the most gentle and peaceful and happiest sound in the world.  

It was repeated all around me for two and half hours at the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta last Tuesday morning.  Whenever I listen to the video I took of over 400 balloons in flight, that sound still leaves a smile on my face.  Perhaps today’s smile is not quite as blissful as the one that was stuck not just on my but on everyone’s faces, from the moment we saw the dawn patrol balloons inflate at around 6.30 am,


and the sun rose at 7.00, to witness the mass ascent as balloons began to inflate and lift of in batches, until 9.00 am, when the majority of balloons had gracefully landed.  Those that hadn't caught the "box" airflow specific to that area between the Rio Grande River to the east and Sandia Peak to the west, which keeps the balloons circling within the perimeter of the Balloon Fiesta field, would have wound up dropping to earth in a suburb of Albuquerque, and bringing traffic to a halt in the largest city in New Mexico.  Par for the course during this week of Balloon Fiesta, and totally taken in the local's stride.

"Gobsmacked" (another Scottish word that means dumbfounded) is the word that best describes the reaction of the thousands of people accompanying me that morning, faces that passed me in a blur, as I concentrated on the wheeshting flight of those colorful sun-struck shapes that silently exploded in tranches into the skies above me, or took time to watch yet another wondrous profile emerge from the grass ahead of me.


There was a sad eyed Joda nudging Darth Vader, who was mesmerized by the sunrise; over there salmon pink cow’s udders emerged between unfolding black and white legs; here a three faced jester winked at a ladybug; a piranha eyed up a tortoise; a carousel twirled in front of a seahorse; a green frog jumped over what remained of the overwhelmed moon; an orange astronaut floated in azure space.


And the colors... more colors hitting the retina than is possible in one normal eyeful.  Color overload! Color silhouettes in the bluest sky imaginable.

It was magnificent, being part of something so majestically, mesmerizingly beautiful.

The only ones unimpressed were the police horses.



I’ll wheesht now, and let you look at Richard’s gobsmacking photos and hope they convey something of what we experienced...

More information on the Balloon festival here:

http://www.balloonfiesta.com/pilots-and-crew/special-shapes-directory

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