September’s Big Adventure: Elko Balloon Festival

Our September adventure was a quick trip to see the Ruby Mountain Balloon Festival in Elko.  We arrived Friday evening in time to see the “Balloon Glow”:

But the real show was EARLY the next morning, when 30ish hot air balloons took to the air.  It cold and there was lots of waiting around, but when it finally happened, it was pretty awesome to experience.  We were able to get super close as they took off, then stand under them as they floated overhead. What a memorable experience!  

Here are some pictures:

After watching the balloons take off, we treated ourselves to breakfast at a cute little downtown cafe called McAdoos. The food was fairly yummy, but it was also so crazily overpriced that we decided to share just one breakfast. (Chef Jac had this trip off. Too busy with the big move!)

Then, after breakfast we drove to see the Lamoille Valley, aka Ruby Mountains.  I’d heard about how beautiful this area is, even that it has been dubbed the Alps of Nevada…so perhaps I was expecting too much.  But, it was just kinda meh. Not as pretty as our Wasatch mountains by any means. 

Here are some pictures:

We did enjoy seeing Amelia yet again top our her MPG gauge. (This is the second time.) Go Amelia!

Once back from the Ruby Mountains, we had some time to fill so we drove around searching for the 36 large, hand-painted boots spread all over the town of Elko. We turned it into a Elko Boot Contest to see who could spot the most boots first.  Eagle Eye Jac won, of course. How could a mere mortal like me compete with that kind of peripheral vision. Phew!