Kanab

 Last June I went to the balloon festival with Davis and Kin while Gator was on Trek.  I wanted to go to another one and take Gator, so I looked up festivals for 2023.  I planned right then to go to this one in Kanab.  I've had the hotel booked since November, and although it wasn't a fabulous hotel, we still had a great time.  We scheduled a time to go to the temple in Cedar.  I love how most of our trips now involve a stop at a nearby temple.  We decided against going over the pass and instead drove to Toquerville, visited for a bit, and went that way.  Like the rest of the state, Kanab is having a cold and snowy winter.  The balloons didn't launch on Friday morning, but by time we got into town, we grabbed some pizza and went to the hotel to relax.  I was hopeful the weather would cooperate for the launch on Saturday morning.  I think it was barely barely alright conditions for the balloons to fly, and it was beautiful.  The back drop was so pretty with the bright blue sky, red rock, and some fresh snow.  It warmed up a little bit during the day and dad & Dianne drove to Kanab to spend the afternoon with us at the street fair.  We had fun looking at the vendors and eating food from the different food trucks.  There were some live bands, and while a few were definitely better than others, it was an enjoyable day.  They had to postpone the lantern launch from Friday night to this afternoon.  It wasn't dark yet, but it was still fun to participate in that.  We have tickets to a lantern festival thing in May, and I'm excited for that.  Gator was singing Tangled songs the rest of the evening after she saw the "floating lights".  Our crumby hotel was in a great location though.  When it was dark and the balloons lined main street, we started at the top and walked all the way to our hotel with the balloons lighting the way.  They are like big street lanterns.  I love the balloon glow, it is so cool to see how massive the balloons are and feel the heat from the flames.  We stumbled into our room exhausted from the day, and fell asleep early.  Sunday we woke up and drove back to Toquerville to go to church with dad & Dianne before driving home.  The next balloon festival on my bucket list is in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  That one will take more than a few months to plan for and save.  But one day I would love to go in October to see that one.  

She brought a hat and sweatshirt, but no shoes, she is lucky I brought blankets to warm her toes.