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.
People sometimes seem skeptical when I tell them I was spoiled by cold, good-tasting tap water for the first 18 years of my life. Well, they can sneer no longer: Mt. Shasta's water has won a contest for the best in the state of California, and it's well-known that Weed's water comes from almost the same source.
After two weeks of wandering a select portion of North America, which included adding Michigan to the list of states I've visited, I'm back home -- where the temperature is supposed to be in the triple digits tomorrow. I think I'm ready to go back to Canada.
I am now hopelessly behind on a number of Web sites I visit daily, but I'll live. After all, I did just fine before finding those sites. If I missed anything extraordinary, let me know.
Whether I'll write further about my adventures remains to be seen, but I will say this: I can get a lot done in a short amount of time if I choose. I got home tonight and in just over one hour I managed to clean up cat messes, unpack two bags and put them away, return my laptop, purses and camera bags to their normal order, rearrange things in the bathroom and get ready for bed.
I've finally been outside the United States! I'm in Canada, in a beautiful place on Lake Huron (north of Toronto), with lots of family members I haven't seen in years. My cousin is getting married today and, if my run this morning was any indication, the weather will be beautiful.
Today will hopefully include a visit with a psycho Internet friend, who really isn't so pyscho when you a) compare her with me, and b) consider that we've seen each other in person more than once -- and have both lived to tell the tale.
I'd told people I wouldn't be online for a while, but of course I had to get online just a little bit. After all, I had to see the outcome of Susan Polk's crazy murder trial.
It's apparently been two years since I last a true vacation. No, wait. I was in the greater Chicago area in December 2004, so that means it's been a year and a half. In other words, it had still been too long. So I finally remedied that by fleeing the state for two weeks. Yes, two whole weeks. Please don't use that information to break into my house. If you do, though, I'd appreciate it if you leave the place cleaner than when you arrived.
Anyway, I flew out yesterday, on 6/6/06, and sat in seat 6 on the airplane. It was all quite uneventful, with the oddest thing being the guy who hit on me by saying I look like Mariah Carey. Um, I do not. At all.
My little (as in, 17) sister and I ran for a few miles this morning, stopping to walk along Lake Michigan for a while. The weather is perfect, birds are twittering outside and it definitely feels good to get away. I was online last night trying to get election results from the California primaries, but other than that I'm not missing home yet! After all, I'm near Chicago, where there is interesting mob news to entertain me.
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.