Ballon Festival

Today, we went to Statesville to the annual hot air balloon festival. This was our first time there, and we didn't know exactly what to expect, but it was definitely disappointing. Don't get me wrong, the finale - the balloon glow - was really great. I'm glad we stuck it out to see that; it was the highlight of the night. But the rest of it was very, very frustrating! First, the last 3 miles of the trip took 2 hours! Yes, it took us 2 hours to travel 3 miles to park. Each time I thought we were there, we came around a curve or topped a hill, and we saw how far the cars stretched in front of us. So, we missed the balloon launch. Then we entered the airport where the festival was and there were SO MANY PEOPLE! We had to wait in line for almost 30 minutes to use the portapotties. Then we got in line to get some french fries to hold us over until dinner - and when we were about 5 people from the order point, the employee told us she would not serve fries from her line - only funnel cakes. Although her sign said funnel cakes AND fries AND we had already waited 20 minutes or so to get near the front of the line just for her to tell us the young man in front of us would be the last one she served. Ugh. I am ashamed that I lost my temper and said something unfriendly to her. We decided at that point we would just skip the fries and wait for dinner. So we went to the kid play area and were told it was closing. Closing! The man was nice and let our kids go through one blow up, but at that point I was about to go postal on all these people! So we found a spot to watch the balloon glow, really the only positive thing for me about the trip. Definitely NOT worth the 2 hour wait in traffic or the unfriendly booth attendants. I'm glad we tried something new, but I will not be going back next year. Anyway, here is a video of the balloon glow - they are "twinkling". Pretty cool.