My Epic Weekend In Pictures: A Bear, plus fun laughs with friends

This Memorial Day Weekend was definitely as Epic as we possibly could have made it. I was able to get Awesome Girlfriend Megan with me in Campus at the condos in Vernon all weekend, so that made me very happy. This weekend involved some grilling, laughing with friends, gorgeous sunsets, and a couple of BEAR encounters.

We will start my Epic Weekend In Pictures with Thursday afternoon. Our friends at Space Farms Zoo gave us an exclusive sneak preview tour of their drive through zoo a full day before they opened it to the public. My friend Parker Space gave me this exclusive tour walking near my car around the zoo, while I was driving. They did a fantastic job with this, and I hope they had a terrific weekend. Parker explained to me during this video that zoo tour admission ticket revenue is directly how they get money to feed their 500 animals. Parker also admitted that animals can sense fear / weakness, and that my suspicions were confirmed that yes the animals do stalk me when I visit them!!! LOL. We had a great time. Steve Andrews was in the car behind me enjoying the tour that they gave us.

Friday night, Meg and I had a quiet chill night on Campus, while we were sipping yummy red cabernet wine. By we I mean me. Meg stuck to a couple of White Claws, I stuck to the wine. I was teasing Awesome Girlfriend Megan because she usually doesn't like to drink anything from a can, preferring a glass. Totally understandable. She has now ordered a Dallas Cowboys coozy though, which now allows her to enjoy drinking even out of a can. It wasn't the first nor last time I would be annoying her during our weekend together.

Saturday morning we made a few quick errand trips, and got to play with Meg's Awesome Mommy Rita's puppy, Penny. That puppy has so much nonstop energy I don't know how they do it! I swear that puppy has no off switch. I am not fully convinced that she even sleeps.

Saturday afternoon, time for me and Meg to grill. It was great to grill our world famous burgers on Campus, and have our dear friends Jasen and Brendan over. We always stay under the 10 person limit of course. I didn't want my cook outs to be large enough to have ten people anyway since I'm so terrible at entertaining. My burgers came out great. Mine was more medium than medium rare but still terrific.

Sunday Funday. Here's where you can see my OCD in full effect. Awesome Girlfriend Megan and I went for a walk together at Maple Grange in Vernon. It was absolutely beautiful outside. When you go to these parks, folks tend to walk in on direction. When we go to White Lake Park in Sparta we always walk in the same direction. Most seem to follow. Meg had us walk in the opposite direction that me and most others tend to do, and it drove me absolutely nuts. NUTS. I was absolutely miserable for those two laps, while pointing out to Meg "do you see how everyone else is walking in the other direction and we're now walking opposite them?" Poor Meg. I likely made her miserable because I'm so OCD / tightly wound. Awesome Girlfriend Megan and I then ventured out to see our bestie Shawn. We haven't been over to her place since mid January. It was great to see her and try a few yummy IPA beers. We share a love of trying and exploring different yummy craft beers. I felt full as all heck the next day after enjoying those yummy IPA beers, but it was well worth it. We enjoyed grilling at her place, yummy craft beers and an absolutely gorgeous sunset. Shawn basically lives up a mountain across Vernon from my mountain that I live on. The view from her deck is so beautiful I have been joking for years that you can even see Russia from her deck. While you can't technically see Russia, you can absolutely see the High Point Monument in all its glory.

Sunday evening we ended up back at my place, where Meg and I had a very rare, nice moment alone together. We had a beer together on my deck and she turned our lights on. It was so peaceful and therapeutic. That Sierra Nevada Fantastic IPA was also absolutely delicious.

Monday morning, my friend Steve who I usually see during our Kite's Happy Hours was around on Campus. His daughter and her boyfriend were visiting for their first time in several months. I came up with the idea for me and Meg to see them with Mimosas. We just hung out for 45 minutes, enjoyed each other's company from a safe social distance on the deck, and all made each other laugh several times. Great times.

Monday afternoon, saw besties Carrie, Brendan and Jasen at a Memorial Day cookout on Campus. We had lots of fun. Monday morning Meg and I had a BEAR encounter. Wouldn't you know it, by Monday afternoon / evening, I had an encounter with the same exact BEAR. I know him from the huge bald patch on his shoulder that he likely got from another BEAR. I will admit it worked out quite well with our morning encounter, as this resulted in some of the best BEAR pictures I have been able to get in my 6 years here. The parking lot picture was entertaining, then Awesome Girlfriend Megan was able to get the one of him near the dumpster where it looks like he's saying HI to us. Or he might be saying "hey Steve Allan you're next!"

Overall we had a wonderful weekend, with many memorable laughs. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my Epic Weekend In Pictures. I hope you had a wonderful weekend too. Time to start planning next weekend!