Fireworks in Fargo!

I finally made it back to KCMO after a week-long trip to a new city that I've never been to- Fargo, North Dakota. I went with my company to the PGI- Pyrotechnicians Guild International annual convention. The PGI is a club for all the amateur and professional pyrotechnicians to get together for a week of camping, fellowship and most importantly, fireworks! We went to sell our merchandise at the trade show.

Here are a few highlights of the trip:

The drive was 10 hours from Lenexa to Fargo. Because of the Missouri River flooding over parts of the interstate we did have to take a detour in northwest Missouri/ southwest Iowa. We ended up driving through some towns that I had visited when I was younger. Towns like Craig, Fairfax and Tarkio, Missouri. These were all towns we played in sports when I was at South Holt in Oregon, MO. It was so trippy for me because I remember these towns being a lot bigger when I was younger. Now I realize they are just some rinky-dink little towns!

We stopped at a McDonald's in Missouri Valley, Iowa and were surprised to see the restaurant had a fort of sand bags all the way around it, in preparation for a flood. They managed to avoid getting flooded and had some teenagers out helping clean it all back up. What a lot of work!

We drove through several areas where the water was right up to the highway but they had managed to save it with heavy-duty sandbags.

The trade show where we sold our merch was at a fairgrounds. Here is our set-up:

PGI is known for having some of the best fireworks shows in the world. We only managed to go to one show, however, and it was just ok. We missed the big finale because we were so ready to get home. Here's all the stuff set up for that night:

One of the more interesting places we went to was the "Space Alien: Grill and Bar." It was right across the street from our hotel. It was like a Chuck E. Cheese. It had a lot of restaurant space and a bar and a small room with arcade games. The games were a disappointment because half of them were out of order!

Here's Luke and Mike J at the games!

I found the alien!!

 Our favorite restaurant however was HuHot Mongolian BBQ. We went there 3 times in one week!! It was so good. The last night we splurged and got smores!

Overall, it was a good trip but I'm so glad to be back! The things I enjoyed was having a wonderful bed at the hotel, spending time with my friend Angie, having WONDERFUL weather, and being out of the office for a week. The things I didn't enjoy was the drive, missing Itsa, and missing my friends. There were a few other things I didn't enjoy but those things are not for the Internet! You'll have to ask me in person. Ha!

Til next time...Laura