This year marks the 21st annual Temecula Valley Wine & Balloon Festival. I first visited the festival 15 years ago. I was a fresh transplant from Orange County (the O.C. for those of you who watch the WB), and it felt like my duty to check out this local 3-day event. What could be cooler than wine tasting and watching colorful hot air balloons float by on a back drop of rolling hills and sunny blue skies?
Reality didn’t live up to expections back then. The event location is a regional park with one small, two-lane entrance. Parking was a couple miles from the actual event; we had to hike to the shuttle, then wait in a neverending queue. The day itself was fun. Overpriced food; booths full of cheap knick-knacks and a relentless sun that vaporized any attempt to block it with sunscreen.
Then came the coup de grace — the exit. Everyone had enough at about the same time, and getting out of there took well over an hour. Not good, considering I lived only about seven miles away. The kids were sun burned. Everyone was tired, overheated, dehydrated and cranky.
But that was 15 years ago. Certainly they’ve worked out the kinks in the meantime, right?
That was the thought that drove me to suggest the excursion last Friday night. Drive in after work, enjoy the sunset, the balloon glow and the live music. We’d miss the heat altogether and the worst of the crowds.
Getting there was a piece of cake. Very smooth, and relative to 15 years earlier, we were able to park much closer. The balloon glow was beautiful. The laser show was too long (Note — when they started playing Lee Greenwood, that should’ve been the end). But once again, the traffic ruined an otherwise nice evening. It literally took an hour and 15 minutes to escape the parking lot. The only solace we found was in watching other drivers jockey for position as four lanes merged into two, and then again into one.
It may be another 15 years before I’m willing to try it again.
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