bigmacbear (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bigmacbear) wrote2021-06-27 11:40 am
bigmacbear) wrote2021-06-27 11:40 am
Happy Pride!
So this is, of course, Pride weekend, and Gary and I have been making the most of it.
FRIDAY
After work we watched Gary's Islanders lose the Stanley Cup semifinals to Tampa Bay, and then had our first dinner out since lockdown at Ivar's fish bar.
After dinner we headed for the Fireplace bar, where the Everett Bears hang out on Fridays. It's not a gay bar - in fact it has a reputation as a biker bar - but the folks who run the place are very friendly and we've never had a bad time there. We chatted out back with Bob and Tim, who we'd previously met, before entering the bar. I bought Coke for Gary and tried a vanilla-flavored apple cider from Locust Brewing. Many folks didn't like the vanilla flavor much but I was pleased with it. We got to the big table opposite the bar and chatted with Kevin and Brian who helped organize the event years ago, and met some new folks. Don is a round-faced bear from Youngstown; Beau is an otter pup half my age from central California; Thomas is a young bear with a huge red beard; and Finn is a fabulously coiffed dude with interesting stories to tell. We ended up chatting for hours until the bar closed at midnight.
SATURDAY
I spent the morning grocery shopping while Gary started the laundry. Between loads we watched baseball and I pulled up the virtual booth from the Choruses in the Seattle Pride online event with about an hour worth of material.
After we transferred the last load from washer to dryer, we had dinner at Buzz Inn steakhouse in Silver Lake. I took Gary home, then parked at South Everett and caught the bus to Seattle. I sat upstairs behind the staircase. Someone put the seat in full recline, so I thought I might get in a disco nap on the way down. At Lynnwood the driver announced we were being rerouted on highway 99 to Mountlake Terrace Transit Center because the on-ramp was closed. He must have thought better of that, because instead we returned to I-5 again, but in the extreme right lane, and we ended up skipping MLT altogether.
I caught the 12 bus to Diesel, where I ran into Danny, EK, and Jesse from the XL Bears. Danny introduced me to his friend David. He's living in Bellevue now. Also had a brief but quality conversation with red Mike, the co-owner. He's completely shaved his head under that ball cap. There were hugs all around. Oh, and a little drama: at the very second I ordered my first cider, a glass shelf on the back bar shattered, spilling a number of bottles of decent booze. I met a young cub from Phoenix named Randy who is just in town for the weekend. I noticed we've been having weather more like Phoenix than we're used to, and Randy said he's gotten used to hot weather in Phoenix, but that doesn't mean he *likes* it. I've missed hanging out in a bar with a lot of cute sweaty men. 😈Â
I walked over to the Cuff to catch the 11 bus downtown. The Cuff had a line wrapped around two sides of the building, and there was no way all those people got in by midnight. At the bus stop, I barely had time to throw a shirt on when the 11 arrived so I put it over my suspenders.
As I arrived at 5th and Pine I noticed I'd just missed the 11:17 PM bus, and readjusted my shirt and sat on a planter at Westlake Park to wait for the next bus. The dude sitting on the planter next to me was a cute cub with blue-tinged hair, wearing a white tank top, ripped blue jeans and black sneakers. Like me he was buried in his phone. Just beyond him was a tall black dude with a shaved head and an epic beard. Both of them caught the 545 that had just arrived. At least twice I saw youngish women drop their phones in inconvenient places: one on the corner of 14th and Madison and the other right in front of blue-hair dude in Westlake Park. A cute little cub, stocky but not built like a fireplug, arrived waiting for the 512. I sat upstairs, second row, passenger side. The AC felt wonderful. I arrived home without incident, had a slice of the banana bread Gary had baked, and headed for bed where he was already sound asleep.
SUNDAY
After breakfast (more banana bread) and an application of sunscreen, I drove us out to Sky River Park for the first Monroe Pride celebration. We traveled fairly quickly past the booths of vendors and watched an improv troupe taking cues from the audience for a bit. Then we headed to the food tent where we had a nice chat with Brian from the Chorus, and Gary picked us up some ice cream bars. After Brian left, I went to use the Honey Bucket (it's pronounced Bouquet, dear...) and we found a shaded picnic table to sit on. I was getting nibbled on by a variety of insects and neither of us wanted to do any more walking around, so we rose to leave just as a little girl lost one of the three balloons she was making such an effort to carry. Gary caught the errant balloon and returned it to her before she had a chance to start crying.
We decided to have a late lunch at Everett Mall and then see "In the Heights" at the air-conditioned theater. Gary wanted a sub, but Jimmy John's was closed so we went to BWW instead and had our usual order. They were a bit short-handed so we missed the movie, but I had an idea for spending the evening in air-conditioned comfort. We walked around the mall first, stopping by Burlington to see if they had grooming supplies, but the place looked really picked over.
We left the mall, stopped at Costco for fuel, and went on an epic road trip just to stay in the cool car for a few hours. On the road I used the speaker phone in the car to catch up with Colleen while Gary gave directions. Our first stop was Gene Coulon Park, our old stomping grounds in Renton. We didn't even leave the car since the parking lots were all full, but drove through and admired the view.
From the park we headed for I-90 to Snoqualmie Summit. I had a couple of options in mind: either take the long loop over Snoqualmie, Blewett, and Stevens Passes and dine in Leavenworth, or turn around at Snoqualmie Summit and dine on the way home. Gary chose the latter and suggested the TA truck stop in North Bend where we'd had dinner with the Bears after snow tubing some years ago. When we took the exit for the truck stop, both sides of the ramp were lined with a gauntlet of tractor-trailers. We were disappointed to find the main restaurant closed and the Popeye's which replaced it was offering take-out only, but were not disappointed with the parade of trucker bears, college bears, and bears with kids all waiting for their food. We loaded the food in the trunk but kept our drinks in the car for the long ride home.
I finished my drink by the time we arrived and refilled my cup from the pitcher of iced tea in the fridge. We had chicken tenders, biscuits, red beans and rice, and leftover coleslaw for dinner. Afterwards we caught up on our recorded game shows, and I brought my computer equipment down from the office and planned to start working early in the morning so as to knock off before the peak heat in the afternoon.
FRIDAY
After work we watched Gary's Islanders lose the Stanley Cup semifinals to Tampa Bay, and then had our first dinner out since lockdown at Ivar's fish bar.
After dinner we headed for the Fireplace bar, where the Everett Bears hang out on Fridays. It's not a gay bar - in fact it has a reputation as a biker bar - but the folks who run the place are very friendly and we've never had a bad time there. We chatted out back with Bob and Tim, who we'd previously met, before entering the bar. I bought Coke for Gary and tried a vanilla-flavored apple cider from Locust Brewing. Many folks didn't like the vanilla flavor much but I was pleased with it. We got to the big table opposite the bar and chatted with Kevin and Brian who helped organize the event years ago, and met some new folks. Don is a round-faced bear from Youngstown; Beau is an otter pup half my age from central California; Thomas is a young bear with a huge red beard; and Finn is a fabulously coiffed dude with interesting stories to tell. We ended up chatting for hours until the bar closed at midnight.
SATURDAY
I spent the morning grocery shopping while Gary started the laundry. Between loads we watched baseball and I pulled up the virtual booth from the Choruses in the Seattle Pride online event with about an hour worth of material.
After we transferred the last load from washer to dryer, we had dinner at Buzz Inn steakhouse in Silver Lake. I took Gary home, then parked at South Everett and caught the bus to Seattle. I sat upstairs behind the staircase. Someone put the seat in full recline, so I thought I might get in a disco nap on the way down. At Lynnwood the driver announced we were being rerouted on highway 99 to Mountlake Terrace Transit Center because the on-ramp was closed. He must have thought better of that, because instead we returned to I-5 again, but in the extreme right lane, and we ended up skipping MLT altogether.
I caught the 12 bus to Diesel, where I ran into Danny, EK, and Jesse from the XL Bears. Danny introduced me to his friend David. He's living in Bellevue now. Also had a brief but quality conversation with red Mike, the co-owner. He's completely shaved his head under that ball cap. There were hugs all around. Oh, and a little drama: at the very second I ordered my first cider, a glass shelf on the back bar shattered, spilling a number of bottles of decent booze. I met a young cub from Phoenix named Randy who is just in town for the weekend. I noticed we've been having weather more like Phoenix than we're used to, and Randy said he's gotten used to hot weather in Phoenix, but that doesn't mean he *likes* it. I've missed hanging out in a bar with a lot of cute sweaty men. 😈Â
I walked over to the Cuff to catch the 11 bus downtown. The Cuff had a line wrapped around two sides of the building, and there was no way all those people got in by midnight. At the bus stop, I barely had time to throw a shirt on when the 11 arrived so I put it over my suspenders.
As I arrived at 5th and Pine I noticed I'd just missed the 11:17 PM bus, and readjusted my shirt and sat on a planter at Westlake Park to wait for the next bus. The dude sitting on the planter next to me was a cute cub with blue-tinged hair, wearing a white tank top, ripped blue jeans and black sneakers. Like me he was buried in his phone. Just beyond him was a tall black dude with a shaved head and an epic beard. Both of them caught the 545 that had just arrived. At least twice I saw youngish women drop their phones in inconvenient places: one on the corner of 14th and Madison and the other right in front of blue-hair dude in Westlake Park. A cute little cub, stocky but not built like a fireplug, arrived waiting for the 512. I sat upstairs, second row, passenger side. The AC felt wonderful. I arrived home without incident, had a slice of the banana bread Gary had baked, and headed for bed where he was already sound asleep.
SUNDAY
After breakfast (more banana bread) and an application of sunscreen, I drove us out to Sky River Park for the first Monroe Pride celebration. We traveled fairly quickly past the booths of vendors and watched an improv troupe taking cues from the audience for a bit. Then we headed to the food tent where we had a nice chat with Brian from the Chorus, and Gary picked us up some ice cream bars. After Brian left, I went to use the Honey Bucket (it's pronounced Bouquet, dear...) and we found a shaded picnic table to sit on. I was getting nibbled on by a variety of insects and neither of us wanted to do any more walking around, so we rose to leave just as a little girl lost one of the three balloons she was making such an effort to carry. Gary caught the errant balloon and returned it to her before she had a chance to start crying.
We decided to have a late lunch at Everett Mall and then see "In the Heights" at the air-conditioned theater. Gary wanted a sub, but Jimmy John's was closed so we went to BWW instead and had our usual order. They were a bit short-handed so we missed the movie, but I had an idea for spending the evening in air-conditioned comfort. We walked around the mall first, stopping by Burlington to see if they had grooming supplies, but the place looked really picked over.
We left the mall, stopped at Costco for fuel, and went on an epic road trip just to stay in the cool car for a few hours. On the road I used the speaker phone in the car to catch up with Colleen while Gary gave directions. Our first stop was Gene Coulon Park, our old stomping grounds in Renton. We didn't even leave the car since the parking lots were all full, but drove through and admired the view.
From the park we headed for I-90 to Snoqualmie Summit. I had a couple of options in mind: either take the long loop over Snoqualmie, Blewett, and Stevens Passes and dine in Leavenworth, or turn around at Snoqualmie Summit and dine on the way home. Gary chose the latter and suggested the TA truck stop in North Bend where we'd had dinner with the Bears after snow tubing some years ago. When we took the exit for the truck stop, both sides of the ramp were lined with a gauntlet of tractor-trailers. We were disappointed to find the main restaurant closed and the Popeye's which replaced it was offering take-out only, but were not disappointed with the parade of trucker bears, college bears, and bears with kids all waiting for their food. We loaded the food in the trunk but kept our drinks in the car for the long ride home.
I finished my drink by the time we arrived and refilled my cup from the pitcher of iced tea in the fridge. We had chicken tenders, biscuits, red beans and rice, and leftover coleslaw for dinner. Afterwards we caught up on our recorded game shows, and I brought my computer equipment down from the office and planned to start working early in the morning so as to knock off before the peak heat in the afternoon.