The Weekend That Was

Whoa. That weekend that just happened? That was a good one. Really good. Many epic things transpired. The primary reason behind most of the awesomeness was the weather. Friday was in the high 50s, and on Saturday it cracked 60. There were more happy people this weekend than I've ever seen before. Every bit of grass on campus was chock full of kids grilling, tossing frisbees, laying out on beach towels, listening to portable speakers, and in a few cases being crazy and doing homework. It was a picture-perfect adaptation of the mental vision I had for college going into the year.

Friday night, while out behind our dorm burning pizza boxes in the fire pit - site of a major party earlier in the day - my friends and I were passing time exclaiming angrily about the staggering number of empty bottles and cans left abandoned on picnic tables or dropped casually to the ground. One particularly wise friend had an epiphany: what if we picked up all the empties and returned them for money. This seemed like a particularly brilliant idea, so we filled up several trash cans, drove to the local grocery store, and made around $15. For the less mathematically-inclined, that is around 300 bottles/cans returned. And when you figure in the cans that were too crushed or dented to return, and the more exotic brands that the machines didn't recognize, you're looking at probably 500 empties in total. Consider that this is enough for 100 people to have 5 beers each, and that the party was done by nighttime.

Saturday afternoon a convoy of 5 cars left for a waterfall/camping site about 20 minutes away, where we grilled steaks, hung out, listened to music, and otherwise continued the activities from school in a slightly more secluded and scenic location. And while I'm sure that sounds pleasant, the epicness is hard to capture. We had no idea where this waterfall was, but managed to find it anyway. We assumed there would be grills at the campsite, and there weren't. Yet while wandering in the woods to use the bathroom, one girl found a discarded stainless steel cooking grate, which we combined with sticks and rocks to create a lovely homemade grill. It was most fortuitous.

Of course, there's snow predicted for tomorrow.