This past weekend, we were in charge of Maureen on Saturday and Sunday while her parents were in Illinois.  We went up to Wausau to look at the chalkfest artwork and then head over to the airport for the balloon rally and “ribfest”.  It’s a weird combination of stuff to do, but it totally worked and we had a blast.

The chalkfest art was amazing to look at.  A lot of people were covered in dark chalk and looked to have sore knees from bending over to the ground all day.

After chalkfest, we drove over the downtown Wausau airport for ribs, balloons, and fireworks.  We parked at Julie’s aunt and uncle’s house (Ruth and Greg) and walked on over to the airfield.  We were presented with 5 giant rib booths.  Each had signs that were easily 20 feet high, advertising their awards and what they offered.  We got some cheese curds and then waited in line for a sampler platter with brisket, pulled pork, ribs, chicken, and then another 1/2 rack of ribs, just in case.  We polished all of the food off pretty easily.  While we were waiting in line, I saw they were offering bi-plane rides, so I grabbed Maureen and we went up in a plane over Wausau, which was a pretty amazing view of where I grew up.

After the plane ride, we waited until it got dark to watch the fireworks.  Unlike “safe”, normal fireworks, these are large fireworks shot off only a couple of hundred feet from the audience.  The wind was blowing back to us, so a lot of the fireworks were going off directly above us, which was *awesome*.  Julie’s cousin Laura actually got hit by shrapnel and there was lot of ash and still-smoldering pieces of paper falling around us the whole time.