Questions for former attendees and New Mexico residents:

(1) Am I too late in trying to plan a trip for 2010? Would be looking at October 7-13 or so in NM, with the 7, 8, 9 in Albuquerque to see the balloons (yeah, I know it ends on the 10th).

(2) Parking, best value tickets? I'm guessing we're best off doing a park & ride arrangement, but need to know when we should arrive to watch the early ascensions -- I'm thinking a rather unG*dly 5:30 am. Which leads to . . .

(2a) Which area is the best for restaurants, hotels, general wandering (we have two small hobbits, loud nightlife unnecessary) near these places, if any -- here are the park & ride pickups:

Hoffmantown Church
Cliff’s Amusement Park
Coronado Mall
Intel
Sagebrush Community Church
Sandia Area Federal Credit Union
Santa Ana Star Casino [ok, this one is far outside the city, right?]

(3) Things to do after the balloons rise -- I mean in the balloon festival area.

(4) Good hikes, parks, nature trails in the area.

(5) And, recommended non-pricey (

(1) No, you're not too late. Arrange for lodging as soon as possible, since rooms will fill up soon.

(2) Definitely do the park and ride. It's so much easier than waiting in line to get into the fiesta parking lot. If you arrive by 6:00 or 6:30 a.m., you'll be fine.

There will be either a mass ascension or some kind of flying contest Thursday and Friday. The Special Shapes Rodeo in the evening is always fun, with fireworks capping the evening.

(2a) Hmmmm....with kids, I would stay near Coronado Mall. Besides Coronado, there is ABQ Uptown across the street, and there are a few places to stay like the Sheraton, Marriott, Hyatt Place, etc.

Santa Ana Star Casino is just outside Bernalillo. There are places to stay, but DebitNM could probably give you better info about those.

What is the credit union's address? They have several branches around town.

(3) There is an arts and crafts festival near the park, but not a lot else. It's sort of a light industry area.

Your kids might really enjoy the Natural History Museum and Explora, the children's museum. I took a group of 12-17 year olds to Explora this morning and everyone had a blast.

We have a great zoo for a city our size, an aquarium and botanic garden, hiking along the bosque, etc. Go to www.cabq.gov/visiting.html where you'll find links for parks, hikes, downloadable guides, and the like.

(5) DebitNM compiled a fantastic list of ABQ restaurants; click on her name and you'll find it. For cheap eats, it's hard to beat Frontier on Central across from UNM.

It may be hard to believe, but we (my family, anyway) don't eat New Mexican food all that often. :-0 Inexpensive places we like include Viet Taste on Menaul between San Mateo and San Pedro, the Owl Cafe on Eubank at I-40, Olympia Cafe on Central just down the street from Frontier, and Taj Mahal on Carlisle at Constitution.

Lee Ann

How much do you want to spend per night? That is the starting point, lots of the lower priced rooms are gone.

Will you have a car?

LeeAnn has good ideas for things to do away from Fiesta. Plan on a nap for all of you, getting up that early makes for a long day and can make for some cranky little ones [big ones too]

It will be COLD in the mornings, hat, scarf, mittens, heavy jacket kind of cold. It will warm as the sun comes up and the day progresses, but bundle up in the AM and dress in layers if you aren't going to go back to room.

Santa Fe has a a really nice International Folk Museum that you might like, along with other nice museums. Little ones should like the Folk Museum.

I might suggest staying on the west side of town in Rio Rancho or Bernalillo area and using the Park and Ride out of Intel. There won't be things to do right outside hotel, but there are restaurants etc nearby and if you have a car, it's easy enough to get into town.

Santa Fe also has a children's museum, but it's smaller and IMO better for younger children. How old are your little hobbits?

Tent Rocks might be fun with your kids (I haven't been there yet, but my son has and enjoyed it) as well as Bandelier National Monument up near Los Alamos.

Lee Ann

Thanks to you both (do you coordinate answering the NM questions on the forum? . Wife and I like NM a lot -- reminds me of Australia's outback.

The halflings are 3 yrs and 6 mos (latter will be nearing 8 mos at time of trip). The baby likes spectacle -- sound, light, color -- and unlike many miniatures, she likes the noise and clatter of an event (she completely freaked out with joy at the rather loud Mesquite rodeo). The toddler likes nature walks and being outside near water runs (streams, falls, rivers, etc.). He liked visiting Bandolier NP (?) outside Santa Fe last year. He also likes science museums.

Looking at the pictures = I want to go to Tent Rocks.

Budget is pretty flexible -- sub-200 per night for lodging, and I think we'd prefer the uptown area just to be around more walkable areas(?).

And no doubt, we'll have a car.

Uptown will absolutley work, I just hope they aren't sold out or astronomical. If you have a specific question about a hotel, feel free to ask.

And no, Lee Ann and I don't coordinate our answers despite running into each other in Costco!

There is a Weck's nearby the Fiesta (I-25 and San Mateo) grounds that has good breakfasts. For green chile, go the the Froneir or Manny's (both on Central). Hotels on Jefferson are near the Fiesta. Sadly, not that much to do at the Fiesta after lift-off (I was there for 4 days last year), I would schedule off-site travels (Tent rocks, go to Sandia Crest, Hispanic Cultural Museum and Indian Pueblo Cultural) and return in the evening for the glow events.

Tourism has been down in New Mexico like elsewhere (recent Spanish Market in Santa Fe was very sparse), so I bet it is not too late to come.

Russ,

In planning our trip, I found that some of the "official" hotel rates through the Balloon Fiesta website link were actually quite good, but the cancellation policy was stricter than most direct reservations.

Last time I checked, some hotels were sold out, but many had rooms still available, some limited--only smoking rooms at one, only accessible rooms at another. The rates had gone up by $5-10 per night on direct bookings since I first checked.

We are sort of strange in that we booked by the airport for the days/nights we plan to go to the Fiesta. We arriving late one night and want to p/u rental car and get to bed as soon as possible to make the early wake-up call (and will have hotel shuttle in case something wrong with rental car), then want to keep the room so we can go back and nap that day. We figure we will be driving to the Native American Cultural Center and other destinations anyway. We plan to go up to Los Alamos area and when we return we have an early flight out, so same routine of back to airport hotel, drop car, and drag ourselves out of bed to get on the shuttle in the a.m.

I flew with my husband and his instructor last week. Ballooning is sure a lot of work getting it ready and packing it in afterward. I'm glad I will just be watching in ABQ.

See you there.

Hubby and I are going to be there this year for more than a week, but, the primary place we lay our heads will be a time share 4 hr away. We're arriving in ABQ Fri the first and leaving the 3rd and have had those hotel reservations for several months. Yesterday we decided to go back Thurs for the Special Shapes and were able to get a hotel room for 1 night without any problems. We were also able to change our Fri and Sat night reservations without any problems.
This is an interesting thread as I'm now starting to plan what we'll do for the rest of our time in the area.

Thx K2 for the tip. I've checked hotels and the availability seems notsobad.

Wondering more about B&B recommendations in Santa Fe; thinking we'll have to use (yawn) chain hotel for Albuquerque because the B&Bs seem full.

I don't know if B&B's will take you with 2 small children; nothing personal, it's just many won't take 1, much less 2.

It's hit or miss -- we had one in Taos take us when the boy was 2+ and the girl was gestating. Also just got an offer from one in SF (Pueblo Bonito). The SF ones that are large (8-15 rooms) don't seem to have a problem with it unless they're selling LUXURY/SPA/PARADISE, which I'm not seeking to afford.

Deb: Casa Del Toro has availability too. And yes, I disclose in advance that we have two hobbits.

>>And no, Lee Ann and I don't coordinate our answers despite running into each other in Costco!

Jahosacat, you're staying four hours away? I can't imagine driving that every day.

Lee Ann

We're not driving it every day. We live in NY state and are taking the train to ABQ - it's the closest Amtrak to our resort. We're renting a car and will drive to our resort in CO Sun, then drive back o ABQ Thurs for the Thurs PM and Fri AM launches. Back to CO Fri afternoon and back to ABQ on Sun to catch our train home. We own 2 weeks of a timeshare. The kind of travel we have planned for Oct this year is normal for our trips. Our kids are 6 and 7 hours away and we see them for a weekend every couple of months.

OK, that makes a lot more sense.

Lee Ann

We booked the Hyatt Place in Uptown and Old Santa Fe Inn in, remarkably, Santa Fe.

Next question: how long are the morning ascensions and the evening fireworks for the balloon fiesta? Anywhere else that's a good spot to watch from other than the Balloon Festival (Fiesta? Am I bonking on the official name) Park?

You got a nice place in Uptown; was just at the Uptown Shopping center today

You can see the balloons in the skies pretty much all over town, depends on how the air is moving. Mostly, around I 25 from Montano exit north to Tramway exit. Most of the roads in the immediate area of park are no parking/stopping/standing [there are even signs on the shoulders of I 25 to say no stopping]

Seeing them all aloft is really nice, but seeing them inflate and launch is something all together different. And you cannot see that from anywhere but on the field of the park. Same for fireworks, you really have to be on the fields.

{and it's Balloon Fiesta Park}

They launch in groups, in intervals so that the entire field is launched in under 2 hours.

The fireworks -- can't say for sure, but the actual fireworks would probably last no more than 30 minutes, but if you drive, it will take way more to get into parking area and out.

No driving, pure Park and Ride only.