5.06.2008

Hi Dad!


Just in case you really are still reading this, thought I'd say hello. And I might as well start capturing some of the fun stories from the past year and some in San Francisco, because it has been really wonderful. The blog originally died after blogger crashed every time I tried to upload pictures, but we'll give it one more shot.

In honor of the upcoming "Bay to Breakers", the race/costume party/drinking in the streets event that I said for a while would bring back my blog, here are some of my memories. The Sutcliffes and my friend A and other athletic types wake up very early and run from the San Francisco Bay (near the Golden Gate Bridge, I believe) all the way to Ocean Beach on the far side of the city. Yup, it's on the Pacific Ocean, hence the "Breakers". And there are some dedicated revelers, mostly dressed like Elvis, who join the professional runners and other healthy folk from the crack of dawn. But, the Elvises can't keep up with the runners, and eventually they are joined by the revelers. Everyone is dressed in extraordinarily complex costumes and drunk by 10am, walking through the streets along the parade route and just enjoying everyone else's creativity. Even the rival news stations find camraderie, tipping each other off so the cameramen can avoid the streakers.

Some of the more creative groups had costumes that not only tied together, but incorporated transporting their alcohol. I saw lots of people pushing STRUCTURES, actual bars or boats or beer pong tables they had constructed along the parade route. It was really a sight. Although I still think the greatest points for ingenuity go to the guy who made a blender backpack using a
lawnmower engine. Seriously, an engine. It was extraordinary.

Jenny and I were not so creative. We dressed in things we already had around the house, but we had a theme! We were clouds. I had a black tulle skirt that I'm fond of wearing for costume events and she had some white tulle left over from her sister's bachelorette party . . . so we were clouds. I made us headbands covered in cotton balls and she carried a water bottle to spray people. It helped that it was warm and sunny that day, even though we called ourselves "San Francisco Summer" because I was a storm cloud and she was dressed in sky blue and foamy white clouds. We met up with some of her friends early in the morning, but lost them quickly once we started along the parade route. We made our own fun, though I'll save those stories for another time.