Yesterday was the Fremont Solstice Parade. The day dawned drizzly and gray, feeling much more like April than June. A week of compulsively checking weather.com, hoping that, at the very least, the rain would hold off, had culminated in soggy disappointment. Nevertheless, the show must go on. If we couldn’t have sun for the Solstice Parade, we could at least have mimosas, bacon and french toast. There is nothing like good friends, good food and booze to brighten up an otherwise bleak morning. About 20 minutes before the official parade was scheduled to start, we headed down so we could catch the naked (mostly painted) bicyclists. It is always interesting to see what people consider “painted.” The corporal craftsmanship ranged from elaborately themed masterpieces that suggested hours of painstaking work to fully nude with a few spots of paint here and there to justify their presence among their painted peers. One man strolled nonchalantly along the parade route, completely nude with no paint what-so-ever. To each his own I guess. There was a couple painted as a bride and groom, a woman with zebra stripes and a whole group of folks painted as trees, just to name a few. All in all, I was impressed that so many people were riding naked in the drizzle! The actual parade wasn’t as interesting. There were a few good floats: the flying spaghetti monster was there as usual, attended by his pirate keepers. There was the troll smoking a giant joint…always a good one, as well as some resident zombies…what would the Solstice Parade be without zombies…??
We ditched early, just before that fat lady to get a table to Brouwers where we found a spot in the patio area and the rain consented to hold off for a while. It was nice to sit down with a good beer and a warm platter of frites. After buying our fair poster we headed home and watched Venture Brothers while devouring Zeeks, washed down with Rainer. A good Solstice, despite the unfortunate weather and after about 12 hours of sleep last night, I am ready for summer to start!