Walking to the Balloon Fiesta

Since our hotel was "just" 1.1 miles from the Balloon Fiesta Park, my father forced us we took advantage of the leisurely stroll each of the 3 times we went to the Park.

After arriving into Albuquerque on Friday afternoon, we rested up at the hotel and made our first trip to the Fiesta that night around 5PM. The schedule said 5:45PM is when the "Glow" started, so we figured we'd walk over to see it.

Google Maps says it would take about 20 minutes, but since I was in a stroller, it took us a good 30 minutes to make our way over. Also note, that once you get to the entrance along Alameda Boulevard, you still have to walk up and into the middle of the park.

The walk is very safe and well lit. As you can see, there's a paved sidewalk the entire way. Oddly enough, there were VERY few people walking there. I'm talking like maybe 5-7 other people total for the 3 times we walked over Fri night, Sat morning and Sat night. I guess people really liked driving in their own cars.

However, at the intersections, you will see a lot more policemen standing around helping guide traffic. And if you're walking before sunrise, they have a lot of construction lights to make sure everyone can see where they're walking. I knew how far away we were from the hotel by counting how many police-staffed intersections we passed. There were 3 on the way to/from Fiesta Park.

Then when you reach the park's southern end, you turn right on Balloon Museum Drive. But again, there's a paved sidewalk. At this point, however, you may get lucky and find a Fiesta worker in a golf cart who takes pity on you and offers you a lift. It's definitely not guaranteed, nor expected, but we did get a free golf cart ride 2 of the 3 times we went.