Drive 1300 miles for what, where?

This weekend I drove 1300 miles to witness a world renowned event. I bet you can't guess what kind of event it was. Albuquergue, New Mexico was the destination. Balloon Fiesta was the event. The Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta is the largest balloon festival in the world. Over 700 balloons participated. I can't even begin to express what a thing of beauty this was. Yes, I have a thing for hot air balloons. But, even if you don't, you couldn't help but be fascinated by such a site. True, it may seem like an awful long way to drive to see balloons enter the skies for a couple of hours. Trust me, you can't understand how worthy it is of such a drive until you've witnessed it yourself, in person. I think I am going to make it an annual thing. I've already got that weekend marked on my 2009 calendar. I apologize now for the overwhelming amount of photos. I just want you to feel like you were part of the experience. Other noteworthy parts of the trip -Eating at Cracker Barrel -Discovering Candelerria -The picture show -Coming to know the use of what now are several abondened factories in downtown Albuquerque. Really!? -Realizing that I apparently have 2 jobs I didn't know about. One at the Hobby Lobby and the other at Sephora. Seriously, I'm sure that everyone reading this knows me at least well enough to know that it isn't likely I would/could get a job at Sephora. My roommate said that people maybe hoped that I worked at these places because I'm an approachable person, which I took to be a great compliment. IT WAS INCREDIBLE!