Saturday we left the campground early (8:30!) and headed to Lexington for the BBQ Festival. We meandered from booth to booth looking at all of the arts and crafts. We made two purchases, one for my daughter Ashleigh and one for my DIL Amanda and tucked them away for Christmas. :-) We saw two gentlemen making a gigantic sand sculpture and stopped to watch them for a few minutes.
After taking in some more of the sights, we decided to share a BBQ sandwhich. We were surprised that there were not more BBQ vendors - we only saw 3 or 4 and the menu was the same.....BBQ sandwhich, BBQ plate and Pig Fries (curly cue potatos). Regardless, the sammy was yummy and hit the spot! There were other booths selling the tradional fair/festival food and we stopped by a booth that was operated by a local church and split a homemade fried apple pie. After that, the crowds starting multiplying so we decided it was time to head to Statesville for the Balloon Festival.
Going to a Balloon Festival was on my "bucket list" and I always thought we would have to go to New Mexico to see one. But alas - while watching PBS a few weeks ago, we saw the Statesville Festival advertised and put it on our list.
We got parked and went to the shuttle line. After a bit of a wait, we decided to "hoof it" since the shuttle was taking awhile and surely we could use the exercise. The walk that was supposed to be only 15 minutes turned into a 50 minute hike!! We finally made it to the entrance and hunkered down on a ledge of a hill with a couple we had met on the walk to the festival. After about 15-20 minutes, there was a flurry of activity. I was like a kid in a candy store and took over 100 pictures! Here are some of my favorites.....
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| First ones airborne! |
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| Look at those balloons! |
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| One of my favorites.... |
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| ....flying right over top of us!! |
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| Up, up and away.... |
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| Bumper balloons! |
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| Three more going up! |
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| Amazing!! |
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| I loved the Balloon Festival!! |
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| Balloon shadowing |
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| Our view as we were leaving.... |
Dan has always wanted to go up in a balloon so I may have to see if we can cross this off of his "wish list" sometime down the road. They were having rides the next day but you had to be there at 7am and we both figured we would like to see different scenery than Statesville (like the Grand Canyon!). It was also a bit pricey for our budget - $225 per person.
We had a great day and the weather was perfect. Today we are doing a few repairs/maintenance (Dan aka McGyver is fixing the dresser in the bedroom as I type!) and then relaxing the rest of the day. The campground we are at has quite a few hiking/biking trails so am quite sure we will venture out on these again today as well!
Have a good week!
11 comments:
I'm jealous. What a wonderful adventure you two are having. The balloons are awesome.
WOW...WOW...WOW!!!
Love the Balloon Photos:o))
We never heard of the Statesville Festival before...putting that on our list!!
Keep having fun.....
Awesome! Looks like you were able to get up close and personal. I think this might be the balloon fest to go to! Less crowds and plenty to see :)
We, too, have always wanted to go up in one. We have friends that did it last year in Florida on a Groupon! I think they saved a bunch!
I saw that on PBS too and thought that it would be much less crowded than New Mexico. At one time, I thought that I wanted to go up in a balloon, but then I found out that I'm scared of heights. I'll just look up at them instead.
Syl
What beautiful balloons! Turtle and Brenda went up in a balloon for one of Brenda's birthdays. It was absolutely amazing, until our crash landing. I have mixed feelings about it but was able to cross it off Mom's bucket list. Turtle will probably never go again, unless they can guarantee me no crash landings. Turtles are not cute when stuck on their backs, wiggling their arms and legs. Love you!
Nice pictures. I highly recommend the balloon ride. Great fun.
And to think that the balloon pic you sent to my phone was breathtaking - these are spectacular photos:-) Now I'll add attending a balloon festival to my own bucket list!
You definetly have to go up in one...but I need to see the festival in person like you did! Sorry I missed you& the balloons!
Love the balloon pictures!!! Amanda and I might have to check this out next year!
There is another balloon festival in Anderson, SC the first weekend in November. Balloon rides are only $200 per person. Dan - here's your chance.
Do you do anything other than relax?
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