storytimewithjoe | Entries tagged with folsom

My hubby and I are very lucky. In addition to having each other, we have a huge amount of friends. Old friends and new alike are very special. This past weekend is really dedicated to the new friends that we’ve made in recent times. Diabolical little enablers that they are, they persuaded us to attend Folsom.

Oh my. Oh my, my, my, where to even begin?

I probably should begin with today. I am horribly depressed – the kind of depression that happens upon the return from a really great vacation only to return to the regularity of mundania. As I walked to work this morning through the thick gray fog, which was a far cry from the sunny warmth of this weekend in San Francisco, I couldn’t help but realize just how much I enjoy these little getaways.

Folsom Street fair, for those of you who are unaware, is a Sunday afternoon festival of leather, hairy muscle daddies, and an assortment of freaky behavior. I’m going to leave out the majority of colorful details (I know, I’m such a tease!), and stick with the basics.

We flew in on Saturday to meet up with some of our friends at the hotel. Climbing the stairs from the MUNI, we were delighted to see runchadrun

and shaunskywalker arriving to meet us. A quick turn around the corner and voila - we found ourselves at the hotel. After dropping off our bags, we once again boarded the subway headed for the Castro where we would join the rest of the gang. I just love walking through the Castro – the old charm, the theater, the shops, the friendly natives. Hysterically, within five minutes of walking through the Castro, I ran into no less than 3 people that I knew. Giggle! Throughout the course of the day, we hit the bars, we shopped, and we ran around like crazy people on vacation. It was grand!

Saturday night, the whole bunch of us (8 of us? 10 of us? I can’t remember), wound up at Catch for dinner. A bit pricey – a bit trendy – but good nonetheless. And what to do after dinner? Head to a video release party, of course! After dinner, we wended our way down to Club 8 for the release party. WooHOO! OMIGOD! So many haaaawt n’ hairy bears. I think I was the shortest guy (with the least developed pecs) in the place. Le sigh.

The festival on Sunday was just… well… wow. It was wild in its freakishness and freakish in its wildness. We visited the booths, watched the people, and had a great time. I ran into my buddy, Mick, and had a great time all around. One unexpected but delightful pleasure came when in the middle of the afternoon, I finally got to meet – face to face – dendren. If I were to ever create a “Joeguppy encyclopedia,” I have to figure out where to file his picture – next to “Truly Nice Guy” or simply under “Absolutely Adorable.” I’m thinking both. J By late afternoon, the festival started getting crowded, a little TOO crowded. At one point, I found myself in a crunch of people, and began to hyperventilate. Fortunately, shaunskywalker

who is a TOTAL sweety, came to my rescue. We walked the block back to the hotel for a late afternoon power-nap. I swear, he is the Linus VanPelt of the group. Caring, honest, considerate, thoughtful, cute, smart, and a genuinely nice n’ honest kinda guy (and a great cuddler, too!).

After another wonderful dinner and quality time with the boys, we all began to go our separate ways for the evening. Giley went for a massage appointment, and I found myself with shaunskywalker meandering around the Castro for a bit. He and his partner runchadrun (of the drop-dead gorgeous jewel-toned eyes) were such fun to hang out with over the weekend. Boys, we MUST do dinner soon.

After visiting a few shops and stopping off for a drink at the Edge, we decided it was time to head back to the hotel. At the same time, the text arrived from dendren saying that he had retired early as well. Yeah! Down-time with my LJ bud! We visited with dendren who happened to be at the hotel right next to ours. Buddy, I can only hope that fortune is kind enough to bring us to the same place at the same time again. LJ is nice, but it is nothing like spending time together face to face.

Monday morning, Giley and I got up early to head into the Castro to meet our buddy Mick for breakfast. What a spaz he is! A good spaz, but OY! Lots of energy – a little TOO much. No wonder the man has no body fat – he has the attention-span of a 4^th grade A.D.D. patient who just found the teacher’s secret stash of confiscated pixie sticks.

After another round of hugs and “until we meet agains”, Giles and I found ourselves finishing off our trip in the front parlor of one of the Victorian B&B’s in the Castro next to the Starbears. We sat around with the rest of our gang planning our takeover of a B&B for next year’s Folsom. There’s enough of us, we probably could do it easily.

One by one, the couple’s made their farewells as the hour for our various flights approached. Giles and I were the last to leave the area. Leaving San Francisco is so depressing – not only because of the let-down after the weekend, but because of the shuffle and shuttling around on the transports. Fortunately, my evil travel karma seems to be over, and we had an uneventful trip back.

Le sigh. I miss you guys terribly already!