Balloon Museum, Albuquerque

This morning we went from Las Cruces to Albuquerque. Our tourist stop was the International Balloon Museum. The museum was pretty good: a mixture of balloon history, interactive exhibits (landing a balloon, tying knots) and artifacts – particularly the cabins for the first transatlantic and transpacific balloon flights. The transatlantic capsule was particularly interesting: it was like a dual hulled boat, with a yellow top to be seen at sea, and a red bottom, designed to be flipped over to provide a shelter if they land on land or ice. Another interesting factor was the exhibits on how balloons and airships were used in wars from the 1800’s until World War II. They were used for observation, for dropping bombs, or for launching planes (suspended from cables in WWI). We also discovered one of the primary reasons Albuquerque is home for the balloon festival each year, it’s wind patterns. Typically, you can go along one mountain range to head north, and then return along the other mountain range and return back to your starting point.