On the Porch
Onisha Ellis
Day 10, September 16, 2017- Evening
In my last post, Pagosa Springs-Color Fest I shared a lot of pictures from the balloon ascent. We were all thrilled with the event as we returned to the condo. A minor mishap with one of the toilets required a call to the front desk and someone was quickly dispatched to fix it. Shortly after the repairman left, the phone in the condo rang. Pam, the timeshare owner picked up the phone and we began laughing and chanting “Just say no.” Timeshares are famous for trying to upsell when you visit their properties and Pam sometimes has moments of weakness.
When she hung up the phone, we were surprised and skeptical to hear that she had won a prize basket that included two free tickets to Night Glow, an event with music, beer tasting and balloon illumination. We joked about it being an oops gift due to the toilet incident and that when she went to collect, they would try to sell her something.
To our shock, the gift was legit! “Here’s your gift, enjoy.” Now we had two tickets with unlimited beer tasting and none of us drank beer! We decided, what the heck and went to the event that evening with two of us purchasing at the gate non-beer tasting tickets.
We didn’t know what to expect. There was a tent with a stage and chairs for the audience and performers were singing. The music was loud so we opted to sit at one of the randomly scattered picnic tables while we scoped the area, trying to figure out what to expect.
I bought some delicious sweet kettle corn.
There is a story with this picture and why it was cropped, but I’m not telling. Maybe the look on Rebekah’s face will give you a clue.
Rebekah talking with Pam who is not pictured.
As we waited for the balloons to arrive, I checked out the food options. There were not a lot of choices and I chose a vendor selling beef brisket sandwiches. I bought one, hoping it would be large enough to share with my husband. The vendor must have been doing a lot of business as they were out of napkins and forks. The funny thing is they were still selling people coleslaw! The brisket sandwich was out of this world delicious, the meat thick and juicy. I have been frequently hankering for brisket since then, but none has compared well to what we ate that night.
The first balloon arrived and I was surprised to note how compact it was and it easily fit in the back of a truck.
After our supper, the aroma of kettle corn began to drive me crazy. I decided we needed some to snack on as we waited on the balloons. The line was long and by the time I returned to our table several had been inflated.
To my delight, one of the balloons was positioned next to our table. The balloonist was so kind to the small children and hoisted them up to sit in the basket. One young fella spent a long time there and was given the privilege of pulling on the gas burner to shoot flames up into the balloon.
To end the evening, the band synchronized the music with the balloons and put on a breathing taking show of flaming and glowing balloons.
I’m so glad Pam won the tickets. We didn’t know about this event and would have missed making a memory that I will treasure.
PS: In case anyone is wondering what happened to the free beer that was included with Pam and Rebekah’s ticket, they upgraded for a glass of wine.
Old Things R New 