Views from a hot air balloon festival!

There's an annual hot air balloon festival here. My first fall, I lived in a second floor apartment with a porch, and a balloon flew over practically within touching distance. I'd never seen one up close before, or heard one. And let me tell you, the HEARING part surprised me. The sound of a hot air balloon firing its burner sounds like what I always imagined the sound of dragon's breath would be. Awesome. Simply awesome.

Why did my mysterious eyeball photo rotate? Darn. Anyhow, it was shot looking up into a balloon. It looked so cool.

The first time I attended the balloon festival (and every subsequent time) I was amazed. In the early dusk, before the sun rises, watching rainbow colored mountains grow before your eyes - aaaah. If you ever get a chance to go to a balloon festival, it's worth the early morning launch times. Hot air balloons are SO much bigger and prettier than you'd ever imagine.
I shot this photo out of the window of my car, on the way home from the grocery store. I've been living here so many years sometimes I forget the balloon festival is in town. Tonight the winds were blowing wrong, toward the mountain, so the balloons stayed tethered and didn't fly. I was able to park and watch them, firing their burners, taking kids into their baskets, and eventually deflating and packing up, which was pretty cool to watch too. I didn't get to see the early morning launch at the airport, with over 100 balloons, some specialty shapes, or the moonglow over the lake, but I'm glad I stopped at the park for the last scheduled launch of the festival.
This is a former teacher in my district, a couple of years retired, in the basket of a balloon that her business (a Lake George ice cream shop) sponsors.