Taking the kids: To Albuquerque—hot air balloons, Route 66 and great eats

Eileen Ogintz, Tribune Content Agency

Let’s all get in the box! If you are among the more than 825,000 people in Albuquerque, NM , during the International Balloon Fiesta (this year Oct. 4 to 12), you will hear a lot about the Albuquerque Box. It’s a weather phenomenon in early October that creates ideal ballooning conditions.

The Rio Grande Valley region and surrounding area is home to temperature and wind patterns that make hot air ballooning safer and easier for balloon pilots to launch and land in the same place, Balloon Fiesta Park. The Albuquerque Box is created when wind patterns circulate in a roughly rectangular path, forming on clear mornings as a result of Albuquerque Valley’s geography; the cold air comes down from the mountains at the same time southerly winds at a higher