My Epic Weekend In Pictures

Despite the occasional sub zero temperatures here in northwest Jersey, I still managed to have a fun weekend seeing some friends. Friday night I was able to see some of my friends at The Cottage in Franklin for a quick beer. It was a special Friday night. My friend Paul Marino, recently retired Hamburg Mayor, was celebrating his birthday. I was able to give him a shout out on my radio show, and they played my shout out at The Cottage. I'm so happy that friends were able to hear the shout out. He's a diehard fan of mob movies and shows, so I picked Journey's 'Don't Stop Believing, because that was the last song ever played on The Soprano's. You can see that scene by clicking here. I was very happy to make a special, positive impact on my friend's birthday.

I enjoyed my beer with friends then hung with my one of my dear friends, JG, who was up from the city. We had a great time catching each other up at Hef's Hut and I was telling him all my online dating fail stories. Well, they're not necessarily fail stories, just cases of things not clicking for relationships. All good. Even if things didn't click for relationships, I have still had fun experiences and end up remaining friends with them anyway.

Friday night JG and I had short walks to our cars, it didn't matter. The cold snap had started. I was home relaxing watching NFL Network and Blue Bloods. I noticed 20 minutes after getting home my hands were still cold and I couldn't really figure out why. Then I pulled up the weather on my phone and it showed 5 degrees. Gee, no wonder why my hands were still cold 20 minutes later!

One of the biggest goals this weekend was to simply stay warm! We can't really complain when we have had such a mild winter so far, but it still hurts! Saturday morning I was up pretty early. I was psyched that they had an ESPN special on former Patriots star Drew Bledsoe. He was the last quarterback for us before he got seriously hurt during a game against the New York Jets. A young, largely unknown quarterback named Tom Brady filled in for him and the rest is history. Many forget that Drew Bledsoe did have a nice career with the Patriots bringing them to the playoffs several times. I'll always have a soft spot for Drew Bledsoe because Pearl Jam is his favorite band, just like me. It's great seeing Bledsoe have success post football career with his winery.

Saturday it was cold and I only accomplished minor chores. It was just one of those cold, miserable days. Several of my friends wanted me to go out Saturday night and join them. I was just too tired, cold and wanted to just stay in and not move from my couch. With the weather being so cold there wasn't much else to do anyway. It was way too cold to watch skiers from my deck. Hopefully I'll be able to do that this week. It's always so much fun having all of that extra energy on our mountain. Everyone out there having fun, hooting and hollering. When ski season ends it suddenly feels like a ghost town on my mountain because it goes from being loud to silent. I was in pajama pants by 7pm on a Saturday night and that didn't bother me one bit at all.

Sunday morning I was happy to see my Bar Rescue with Jon Taffer marathons return to Paramount Network. LOVE that show so much. Saturday night I invited a few of my friends to join me and venture out to some NY state breweries. I want to get back into exploring more during my Epic Weekend In Pictures like I always used to before the pandemic. There was a brewery out in NY that some friends were bragging about. I figure why not, even though my friends all cancelled on me, let's go on an adventure. Google Maps took me through some random strange backroads and neighborhoods. I then pull up to the brewery right before they opened. Whoops. I realized I have indeed been to the brewery before a few years ago. On top of that, as I'm parking I can see Route 94 from their parking lot. I could have just stayed on 94 instead of going every which way?!? While I remembered enjoying the brewery years ago, it wasn't special enough for me to wait for them to open.

On my way back, I hit the Pine Island Tap House. I realized I hadn't been back there either since before the pandemic. They have grown and expanded since! I remember they had 4 beer options on tap last time I went. They now have over 12 it appears. I enjoyed a tasty New England IPA and then started venturing my way back to Jersey. I then was able to hang out with Carrie, Christine and Chris at their play in Hardyston. Nothing special or anything to write home about, just low key hanging with friends kind of Sunday Funday.

I then went home, watched Bar Rescue marathon right up until The Grammy Awards. The show is quite interesting. Shout out to Harry Styles and all of the other artists who won Awards.

Time to start planning next weekend.