Burlington Ribfest

After delivering the layout to Burlington, my sister suggested that the four of us (Elizabeth and I, Hil and Gord) go out for dinner. We had a variety of food allergies and preferences to cope with so we ended up compromising on where to go . . . Montana's. Now that was an experience. I'm sure they'll have lifted the lifetime ban within a few years . . .

Hil didn't get into a fistfight with the manager (but it could have gone that way, and the smart money wouldn't have been betting on the restaurant employee), but it wasn't the kind of memorable experience we'd expected. To compound the awkwardness, Hil also tipped off the waiter that it was my birthday, so I got the kind of "birthday treat" I'd been able to avoid since I was about 13: having the wait staff all gather around and sing to me.

On the way out to the truck, Hil tried to get me to double-dog dare her to moon the restaurant. I valiantly resisted. It didn't help. She insisted on doing it anyway.

On the drive back, Hil persuaded Elizabeth that it would be a really good idea to go to the Burlington Ribfest.

I should point out that I'm not a fan of crowds, so I wasn't expecting to have a particularly good time on this outing. Aside from the crush at the front of the main stage (where the performers were the Downchild Blues Band), it wasn't too bad at all. This was at the back of the crowd, just within sight of the main stage:

That's Elizabeth and Gord, with Hil's shoulder just edging into the picture. Here, Hil has been trying to persuade the balloon guy to make her a balloon hat that "looks like half a peace sign":

Hil decided that a "blooming onion" was the perfect food to eat while strolling the festival. Here she's trying to get Gord to try some:

At one booth, it looked like the decriminalization movement had won:

Sadly, the other half of the sign said something like "Old-fashioned fudge".