These seven balloons are getting ready to take off at 5:30 AM last Saturday. I was able to capture them when they all had their burners on before lift off. It was quite an impressive sight! You can see their crews at the base of each balloon. The string of lights in the background are cars on McCarran Blvd. waiting to get into the park for the 7 AM

This is a close up view of three balloons before they took off that morning.

These are six of the seven balloons following take off from the park. The seventh balloon was east of these balloons and thus not in the picture.

These are some folks who probably arrived much earlier than us and were taking a quick nap before the seven o'clock take off of the rest of the balloons.

This photo was taken just before sunrise. You can begin to appreciate the number of people attending the event and also see some of the hot air balloons getting ready for take off. They use cold air fans to inflate the balloons while they are on their side. Once inflated the helium burners are started to bring each balloon to the upright position.

You can see at daybreak one balloon in the air, one ready for take off, eleven on their sides being inflated, and one in the foreground lying on its side ready to be inflated. I really liked being able to access the balloons during the entire process and really enjoyed the family atmosphere.

The despicable me balloon ready for liftoff.

Lift off!

Smokey the Bear getting into the action.

Despicable Me!

Wells Fargo hot air balloon

Looks like a proud father holding his son later in the morning

These balloons were to our west and had been in the air for about one hour. I really liked the strawberry balloon!

Jenny and Linda enjoying the chilly morning. Linda brought us hot coffee, muffins, and some irish cream to munch on. Linda is also holding onto my camera bag with her right hand.

This lady bug balloon originally is from Texas. Jenny found out it cost about $75,000 to make. This balloon did not take off. Instead it remained tethered to the ground and was used to give the general public rides to about 40 feet in the air before being pulled back to the ground.

This ornate butterfly balloon also remained on the ground that morning.