Quechee 32 Annual Balloon Festival Rendezvous

 We arrived Thursday, as in years past to an empty field. After a few minutes "Pete" greeted us and hurried off to get the paint to mark out the spaces. We set up our easy chairs and enjoyed lunch! Once that was done we decided where the back of the trailers would end up and we parked, this year on a slight angle. This worked out great as it gave everyone a better view from their space!

After we had all the flamingo's set in place and the flags flying we went out for a drive to enjoy the countryside and grab a few quick Geocaches. When we arrived back we were surprised to see only 2 Class "A" motor homes set up. 

We thought it would be nice to find a quiet place to have supper. The first attempt found the door locked and the Deli was closed. Undaunted we moved along and came across the Parker House Inn, Pub and Grill. Very nice! We chose a table outside and had a leisurely meal. We were rewarded with a single balloon ascension near the end of our meal. What a perfect night!

Once it was near dusk, we lit our (fake) fire and celebrated our anniversary with desert (lemon cake) and a bottle of Champagne. Just as were about to turn in, the Full moon broke over the horizon, Strawberry Red! Very special!

 The morning came and the skies were clear. We were ready for a great weekend! We went for breakfast at the diner down on Route 4 While we were there, a retired NY Fire Fighter pulled up on a special edition Harley. We had a great chat about his trip across country staying at Fire Houses. When we returned the Airstreams started to arrive!

A fellow Airstreamer had seen our posts of the area on Facebook and contacted me to see if there was space available for them to join us. We were very excited to hear back they would be arriving Friday early evening! All in all we had one Itasca and 6 Airstreams of various vintages. Sadly the balloon ascension for Friday evening had to be canceled. We set up and had a quick informal happy hour and caught up with everyone. It is amazing how the simple dish's disappear first!

Saturday morning we awoke to a low hanging fog, after an hour delay balloons started to inflate and lift off. One after another they lifted off, baskets full of excited travelers.

The events for the day were stacked for every hour. We visited the annual yard sale to find a few treasures, Susan found a huge pot of "Hens n Chickens" and I found a box of solar lights, I did not make out so well, they did not work….

 The Frisbee dogs performed in the morning and put on another fabulous show! This is a yearly must see attraction. The Irish Step Dancers were back and were better than ever! The school has grown from 25 students to 104! A fabulous Magician, Comedians and Jugglers.  There were several groups that performed Blues, western and Folk music. The blues band was our favorite!!

Saturday evening we waited out thunderstorm in the area, and only 30 miles away there were reports of goofball sized hail! Not good with all the aluminum there! All the storms bypassed us and we never felt a drop of rain! The Balloons got off after a short delay. After dark the postponed Balloon Glow was very nicely done.

Sunday morning the weather was crystal clear, folks started arriving just after 05:00. There were a few new balloons too! We counted over 20 for each ascension! As the morning wore on we all slowly started to pack up to head back to our homes well most of us, the Brand X of the group decided to head north west to spend a few more days of camping. LUCKY BUGGERS!  

As with any time friends get together it is always sad to say so long.

 See you down the road and as Carl says Stay Between the Lines!