SF Pride 2006
Since my return home from vacation Tuesday night, daytime temperatures have passed horrific triple-digit numbers every single day. Sunday was forecast to be no exception, so I escaped to San Francisco, where I met up with a friend for some shopping and general chatter. It also happened to be the day of San Francisco's notorious Pride Parade.Seeing all sorts of crazily costumed people -- parade participants and spectators alike -- was great fun, but the train ride there provided the most interesting contrast. Where else could one see sports enthusiasts and gay pride enthusiasts in the same setting?
I drove to the closest BART (the Bay Area's public train system) station and got on an empty train. Ridership appeared typical for a Sunday, but within a couple stops things were changing. You see, the Oakland A's and the San Francisco Giants were playing one another in their annual Bay Area baseball series, so the train began filling with orange-and-black and green-and-yellow. Sometimes fans of opposing teams got on the train and sat together. And then there were the people who were obviously on their way to Pride. Some were clearly same-sex couples, some were decked out in a rainbow of clothing and accessories. And, of course, there were the people like me, who probably made others wonder if I was a baseball or Pride attendee.
BART was operating longer trains but not any more frequently than the normal every-20-minutes routine, and as we got closer to San Francisco, the train got fuller. Soon every inch of sitting and standing room was crammed to the max, and people couldn't even get on the train. I was seated by a window and could watch as would-be riders got a jolt and clearly had no idea there were any extra activities in the city this weekend. One obvious A's fan even went up to a window and tried to motion people in the aisles to move down. However, they had nowhere to go.
Anyway, it was a good day and the weather was wonderful. And, me being me, I just had to run into someone from Lodi. We were leaving the outside balcony of the Cheesecake Factory when a local cop and his wife spotted me. They were celebrating their wedding anniversary by going to the city and watching the parade -- and running into a reporter they know. This kind of thing happens to me in airports, too.
Posted by Layla at 8:54 PM, June 26, 2006
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