A Ginormous Flying Boot in Albuquerque

Y’all, last year a ginormous (like, H U G E) Hunter Boot balloon was spotted flying around Albuquerque.

I’m clearly taking a trip down memory lane (aka catching up from last year just days before this year’s balloon fiesta), because I just came across this set of photos again, and they’re blowing my mind.

There are a couple other giant balloons (Airabella, the cow, the Wells Fargo stage coach, and Christ the Redeemer; yes—a giant Jesus in the sky—spring to mind), but at 120+ feet tall, this was easily one of the biggest balloons I’ve ever seen.

Its footprint (ha) was at least the length of three homes, and simply left me speechless…except for saying, “WOW” probably 185 times.

I’m so glad we followed the “welly” around, so I could see just how big it was in real life.

We turned a corner and saw the pilot searching for a spot to land. So we pulled over and joined the ever-growing crowd.

I’m all for helping balloons down, but this one was just too big for me; I let its chase crews help as we stood back and watched.

The chase crew for this balloon actually insisted that they didn’t have extra help. I’m guessing because it’s a corporate balloon. Whatever the reason, we tried to keep the kids at a distance…

Julia just couldn’t resist.

I don’t think it’ll be at this year’s fiesta, so I had to share this so you could catch a glimpse of a giant floating boot, too!

Directly after this this adventure we moved on to our next balloon of the day, which had a big story all on its own!