Toledo Safari!

Today I am going to the Toledo Zoo!

Not only am I going to the zoo, but I'm going with a bunch of "imaginary friends." Sort of.

My other online home is the Snopes Urban Legends Message Board, where I post as Minstrel. It's a really great sort of online community. Reasoned discourse, great senses of humor, and the vast majority of the board members type in ordinary English instead of the annoying "AOL-speak" so common on the internet these days. A few months ago, someone got the idea that those of us in the Midwest region should get together so we can see each other in person, maybe for dinner or something. So we've been planning this since then. Originally we were supposed to meet in May, but then we bumped it back to July because too many people were already booked for May.

Now the day has finally arrived. There are going to be 8 of us going to the zoo (well, 7 actual board members and 1 husband), and then 4 people will be joining us at the restaurant for late lunch (2 board members and 2 husbands).

I am so excited to meet these people. I've already met one in person, and we've become very good friends. I've talked to a few of the others via long and drawn out email threads about absurdly random things. But today I finally get to see them all in person. Does my excitement over meeting online friends make me a geek? Probably! But you know what? I don't care!

I've got my hiking sandals ready, I've got the digital camera I borrowed from my mom, and my car is fueled and ready for the trip south to Toledo. I'm ready to go!

"The snopesters gathered in Toledo that bright Saturday in July.... and the city was never the same again."