My Long Epic Weekend In Pictures: Climbing A Mountain.

I want to start off my Epic Weekend In Pictures with an apology. With this unprecedented pandemic situation (how tired are you of hearing that phrase,) iHeartRadio wants me to take the next few Mondays off. No big deal. I'll just crank out my Epic Weekend In Pictures as early Tuesday mornings the best I can the rest of this month. I'll also try to make the best of it and see my parents back home in Boston this coming weekend. I haven't seen them in almost 3 months. Despite what they may publicly claim, I bet they miss me. LOL.

This Epic Weekend In Pictures involved some normal, weekend fun activities while also some brand new adventures. Friday night, our besties Jasen and Brendan invited me and Awesome Girlfriend Megan on a hike up our mountain. I have lived on Campus at Great Gorge Village in Vernon for 6 and a half years now. I'm basically halfway up the ski slope and absolutely LOVE living where I do. If you're a regular reader, you have seen the gorgeous sunset views from my deck and during the winter my Mountain Creek chairlift view. The mountain I live on is Granite Peak. I have always been rather intrigued about the views I've seen from the top after some friends have taken on the daunting adventure of hiking it.

Saturday morning started off with me and Meg having a minor tiff / play fight. Basically, the moral of the story is I'm a guy who just can't admit when he's wrong. By last night I finally admitted when I have quoted Abraham Lincoln for years saying "I cannot tell a lie," Meg fact checked me and proved that it was a George Washington quote. Whoops. I then said "maybe Washington said it first, then Lincoln said it after him?" Meg was less than thrilled. Sometimes my family back up in Boston call me "Spinny Spinster," and Meg now occasionally also calls me that. This tiff started when I told her that sharks eat bears. How would I know that?

When I first moved here, I was rather frightened at the prospect of bears walking by my ground level corner unit deck. I think I must have googled "what eats a bear," and a shark came up as an answer. Meg started fact checking, and I found that a shark ate a polar bear, but in this instance the polar bear may have already been dead or a young cub. Either way, a shark ate a bear and I'm right! (Seriously, how lucky is Awesome Girlfriend Megan, right?)

Saturday late morning, time to hike! It was hazy, hot and humid. (Ironically if we hiked Sunday when the humidity was gone it would have been far less painful. Ah well, pain is beauty right?) I think we spent a solid couple of hours walking up and down that mountain. Jasen admitted he took us a harder way, because it is much steeper the way we went. The positive to the steeper route is more gorgeous views on your way to the top. The mountain views were amazing despite the haze hindering the distant views. It was a very tough hike. The boys fared much better than me and Meg. Go figure, I ran a few miles on The Alter G Treadmill at Trinity Rehab in Sparta just last Monday. Climbing up a mountain is a very different story though. Inclines and Steve Allan just don't mix well I'm learning. My calves and shins are still sore days later! Well worth it though.

Saturday night, back to grilling my world famous burgers for a nice low key night. My burger came out a little more medium than medium rare, but they were still fantastic. I bought ground beef from the Green Valley Farm Stand at Crystal Springs, which I nicknamed my Campus farmstand. I then used my go to clutch Longhorn Steakhouse seasoning. I don't believe in secrets. I want you to be able to enjoy the same awesome burger I grill. Especially since I can legally have only ten people at my place at most. Truth be told, I never want to entertain for that many people anyway because I'm so bad at it. Before Awesome Girlfriend Megan I pretty much never entertained. I was always too stressed about making sure everyone had such a fun time. Now Awesome Girlfriend Megan, who loves to entertain, has helped me be a little bit more at peace during these fun cookouts.

Sunday I was very happy to enjoy another fun Bar Rescue marathon. I even ran into some friends who I haven't seen in 6 months. It feels great to start to reopen and hopefully see more friends again.

Monday, my one day vacation. I was trying to time these days in June when more things were hopefully open. Ah well, I tried. I was able to still go to Trinity Rehab in Sparta just like I do every Monday. Physical therapy in New Jersey all along was deemed as an essential service. They have done wonders these past 6 months on the pinched nerve in my right hip, my "caboose." The past 3 months I have started running on their Alter G Treadmill. It's more than a gravity free treadmill, it actually calibrates your body weight, and you can calculate how much percentage of your body weight you want to walk or run on. A few months ago I was running at 75% of my body weight to start. Now I'm all the way up to 89% of my body weight. You don't realize how much you can feel every single percent of your body weight until you run on one of these devices. Wow. I love getting my report on how well or bad I did emailed to me so we can keep track of my progress, little by little. #RunSteveRun! March was the first time I was able to run on a treadmill of any kind for my first time in 3 years. It feels amazing to start running again.

Monday afternoon, I relaxed on my deck with an ice cold beer and a stogey. I earned it after that run, right? It was so peaceful to try to relax with a beer, stogey, and the sounds of nature around my deck. Just a quiet afternoon, listening to birds chirping. Success. We will keep trying to make the most of these vacation days.

Overall, we had a fantastic weekend with many memories. Now I feel great looking at the top of my mountain knowing we have made it up there one time. I hope you had a wonderful weekend too. Thank you so much for taking the time to read my Epic Weekend In Pictures. Time to start planning next weekend. My first time back in Boston in 3 months. Cannot wait to see my family. I'll have this space updated next Tuesday!