Not in Nature

Today's entry is about my favorite subject - color.  Saturday, I found the colors I've been missing here in Nevada.  At 5:30 in the morning black sky became illuminated for seconds at a time before returning again to black. Four balloons took turns with our attention as they quickly appeared then just as quickly disappeared.

As one, we raised our cameras in a fervent salute as we tried to capture the moment.  Heads turned left to right then back to left as balloons lit up the night sky. This may have been some sort of malevolent joke. Someone was laughing at us all as he had balloons light up and darken, seeing our heads jerk back and forth.

Not wanting to miss a one, I kept up with the crowd while silently cursing myself for forgetting my camera in the van in he rush to catch a shuttle bus to the Dawn Patrol balloon show.

The balloons slowly floated away as dark turned to dawn.  

It was over so I prepared to leave with my family. But wait. There's more?

Daybreak meant the inflating of over three hundred more hot air balloons.

First just a few were inflated and took to the air . . .

. . .then more as they kept on coming.

Fully inflated balloons finally filling the sky as they floated high above our heads.

Most were the classical shape, but there were a few unique balloons up there.

It is always nice to see a familiar face like Smoky.

The sky was soon dotted with multi-colored bubbles floating above us.  Balloon pilots  would be using all their skills to drop bean bags onto the field in front of us trying to land the bags on selected targets. 

We stayed until all the balloons had risen watching a few coming down in precarious spots perhaps due to the cold morning air.

Happy, we returned to our shuttle then into our cars.  Our group was ready for a big breakfast then the short drive over the mountain to Virginia City.