I was surprised to see this empty lot at Osuna and Edith Blvds. Until recently there was a Blake's Restaurant here. I have fond memories of coming here with my dad, for burgers. One afternoon, we ate burgers as a rainstorm hammered the parking lot outside. With the splashing raindrops, suddenly, the parking lot was filled with tiny jumping toads. We watched the tiny toads jump and jump. Then the rainstorm was over and the toads completely disappeared.
Uh oh, here comes trouble! Heading north on Edith Blvd. on Saturday morning October 14th, we see a balloon in distress, barreling south, the opposite way, barely clearing treetops and the clutter of powerlines. The balloon is desperately trying and failing to climb, trapped in some kind of wicked, low-level jet of air between the heights and the valley floor.
Climb, baby, climb!
Not climbing enough!
See you soon!
Returning south on Edith Blvd., here is clearly a balloon in distress. The balloon crashed into the embankment of the Alameda Blvd. overpass over Edith Blvd. The trouble here is that they desperately want to deflate the balloon, package it up, and take it away, and out of the wind, but the hot air is caught inside the balloon's canopy.
And here is that balloon that flew past overhead, having landed, but the balloon fell over on power lines. The people in the basket were still there. I pulled over and took one photo. Then a man across the street yelled at me, "This is a sensitive situation! No photos or videos, please!" So, I drove on. Apparently the people here were OK. I saw nothing about them in the press. But it's clear there is an active effort by Balloon Fiesta supporters to quickly bury anything resembling bad news. There are likely dozens of bad landings at an event like this, but just a few of them make it to TikTok.
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