While much of downtown Durango served as a putting green for drunken golfers Saturday, other Snowdown festival-goers headed out early to do something different.<\/p>\n
The Snowdown Balloon Rally Train stopped in its tracks Saturday morning on its way to Cascade Canyon, in view of a distinctive display of colorful balloons \u2013 grounded by wind \u2013 that drifted and spun on the floor of the Animas Valley.<\/p>\n
Crowds gathered in the early morning sun in Hermosa, along with a train packed with spectators, to watch hot air balloons rise over the valley for Tequila Rose and Tarantula Tequila’s Snowdown Balloon Rally.<\/span><\/p>\n But when high winds prevented them from ascending, the balloonists created a colorful display by inflating their vessels \u2013 the oldest form of human-flight technology \u2013 on the ground.<\/p>\n \u201cThe winds are blowing the wrong way to fly this morning,\u201d said pilot Keith Takach of Albuquerque, as crew members held down his balloon. \u201cSo, we thought we’d stand up for the people and put on a show for the train.\u201d<\/p>\n In all, six balloons inflated in a snow-covered field, swaying gently as they grew. Pilot Eric Greenwood also came up from New Mexico for the event.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s just fun, all the way around,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n A little later, at the Durango Community Recreation Center, a group of kids enjoyed a different kind of adventure \u2013 instead of going up, they went under.<\/p>\n The Aqua Safari for Cubs, sponsored by Splash Down Diving, gave kids, most ages 8 to 13, a chance to learn the basic fundamentals of scuba diving on an underwater obstacle course.<\/p>\n \u201cYou see kids coming out of the water, and their eyes are huge,\u201d said Terry Tucker, owner of Splash Down Diving. \u201cThey’re completely excited.\u201d<\/p>\n While most kids simply enjoyed trying something new, for others it was more.<\/p>\n Seventeen-year-old Erich Krouse, who has Down syndrome, took advantage of some special assistance from scuba instructor Barry Mason to follow his dream of swimming like a dolphin.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s all about inclusion in our community,\u201d said his mother, Mary Krouse. \u201cI’m glad they let special needs (children) come do this. That’s my baby. It’s a new freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n Mason, who works with the Adaptive Sports Association to help people with disabilities participate in sports such as skiing \u2013 or in this case, scuba diving \u2013 also helped Anna Caplan, 14, find a new world underwater.<\/p>\n \u201cAnna doesn’t walk normally, so being weightless is a real advantage,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Caplan said she liked the feeling, and the sense that \u201cnobody else was around down there.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI enjoy that,\u201d she said from the surface, although her focus was down below. She just wanted to swim.<\/p>\n \u201cCan we go down one more time?\u201d<\/p>\n