In keeping with our promise to do two new things per week, we decided to do something that we’d never done in our 20 combined years in Chicago.

Go to the airshow.

Now, you might be saying, “But Todd, you’ve probably seen airplanes flying around Chicago during the airshow at some point!” And you’d be right. But, in 10 years of living in Chicago I have made it my goal, crusade you might say, to avoid North Avenue Beach like the plague on Airshow weekend. Partially due to my dislike of people in large crowds but mostly due to my dislike of people in large crowds.

I get all sweaty and hate-y. And eventually I start to turn into a 85 year old man who really just wants you TO GET OFF MY LAWN!

But this weekend, I made an exception. For the sake of my marriage. For the sake…of. Love.

We took the blue line down which, if you live in Chicago, you know that it’s a train line. If you don’t live in Chicago then you’ve read that previous sentence and you now know, it’s a train line.

The trip started off amazing because we met our friends a few stops from our house and they had bacon. Yes. Bacon. And not just any bacon. Candied bacon from Bang Bang Pie. Which, as the name suggests is a bomb factory slash pie factory.

Here is a picture of the bacon:

(There is no picture of the bacon…Stax ate it too fast…me…me I ate it too fast)

However, here is a picture of what North Avenue Beach looked like when I got there on Saturday:

LOOK AT THAT! LOOK AT THAT! That is, as they say in France. A lot of people.

But, despite the fact that it was amazingly crowded and even more amazingly hot (I was sit sweating, which is pretty impressive if you think about it…really really hard.) It was a ton of fun.

I mean it. We had a blast. We sunned ourselves, we ate sausages and cheese (I ate sausage and cheese…quietly and without the others) and we watched planes do air trickery! If you’ve never seen an air show, I suggest you go find your nearest one and attend it immediately.  IMMEDIATELY!

There are plane from all over including small and large group…acts? Acts. There is even something called “Barn Busting” which I can only assume is the right phrase, but I can’t remember it and the “google” search bar is too far away to confirm.

There were even French planes, which were as they say in France. Also fun to watch.

In fact here they are:

They even brought their own announcer, who was just amazing. Imagine, if you will, a wonderfully thick french accent saying “YOU LIKE THAT, CHEE CA GOOO?” after a great trick. The answer is yes, Mr. Frenchmen, we did like that.  We liked that hard.

But, the real reason we were there was the always amazing and world renowned Navy Blue Angels. They absolutely lived up to their reputation which I do not know, but I assume it’s good.  What I can confirm is that they are freaking awesome. Like super freaking awesome.

LOOK HOW CLOSE THEY ARE FLYING!!!! It really is amazing to see. They did a bunch of other stuff but I figured I’d watch it with my real eyes instead of my android eyes…plus my hands were getting sweaty and I didn’t want to break my phone.

Overall the day was awesome, we were there for about 4 hours and enjoyed what I would consider a full day’s worth of entertainment. It was, as the French say. A nice morning and afternoon with my wife and friends.

To prove that to you, here we are.

Look at us. That’s happiness and sweat all mixed into one.

Keep sending suggestions about the what you want us to try! We’d love to hear from you and eventually we’ll run out of air shows to visit.

P.S. Our number 2 was a trip to St. Joe because we had to cancel some Karaoke plans on Friday due to some unexpected conflicts.  I’m not writing about it this week, but I promise normally I will address both outings.

Todd out.

The Blob Air Show Bang Bang Pie SHop Blue Angels Chicago French North Avenue Beach Sweating