Lock & Key House of Hunky Jesus Pilgrimage
We went on Pilgrimage last week to San Francisco for Easter in Delores Park. On Friday, we drove up the coast and stopped at Cayucos in Morrow Bay for the night. Our hotel was right across the street from the ocean. As soon as I stepped out of the parking lot, I was enveloped by pitch darkness and quiet you don't experience in the big city. My husband Mark went down to the beach for a smoke and offered to take the dog along with him. The dog turned around and jumped up on the sofa with me. She never turns down a walk. Either she was afraid we would get back in the car and drive, or she was not interested in being swallowed up by the darkness and silence of the beach. That's our LA dog.
The dog was all about running around on Cayucos Beach early Saturday morning. It was a perfect sunny beach day; we could not have planned it any better. Sadly we could only stay a short time in the sand, which was a bummer as we missed the annual Cayucos Beach Easter Saturday dog parade at noon. So instead, we had to head to our next pilgrimage stop to visit my new niece. Baby Nora is so precious. She is so new that she still has a fresh baby smell. I held her for an hour, and she was warm like a loaf of bread out of the oven and completely relaxed. She holds her hands up around her face like a Vogue model.
We could not stay long in San Louis Obispo because we had to return to the road for San Francisco. Driving up the coast on the 101 is longer than taking the 5. I like the coast route better. There is more to see; now I have a baby to stop and hold on the way. It's a no-brainer. Otherwise, I look forward to the LA to SF bullet train for direct shots from Hollywood to the Castro. It can't be finished soon enough. Our next pilgrimage stop is a dinner appointment in the Marina District with some of our family units. In my corner are my niece and her boyfriend. In Mark's corner are his cousin and her daughter. Getting together with elements of our families is a treat. It has created quite a mash-up with Mark and me as the younger siblings of large extended families. We made it into the city just in time to check into our hotel and pick up dinner guests, the meal was lovely, and we followed it up with gelato. I bestowed upon my nieces' boe a car trunk full of scuba gear treasure. He is just starting his diving hobby, so my unused gear will get him started. After all, I must find ways to maintain my most-favorite-uncle MFU status.
Easter Sunday
I got the dog up for a walk this morning, which was about 10 minutes shorter than I expected. The LA dog was not interested in exploring. The weather is fantastic. Usually, in San Francisco, I wear layers year-round, but this Easter Sunday is turning out to be a tee shirt and all-day shorts affair. I am applying sunscreen over and over to avoid turning into a lobster. Mark announced that we were going to our event and staying out until we got cold. I think we will run out of steam long before we get cold.
The Main Event Hunky Jesus Pagent Delores Park San Francisco
Spoiler alert House of Jesus won the pageant. This event started at 10 am with an extravaganza for kids and families. Followed by an easter bonnet contest, leading into the main event, Hunky Jesus and Sexy Mary pageant. You can find more videos on youtube. There were 40-ish contestants and 10,000 of our closest friends cheering them on. Our previous experience was almost ten years ago when the event was a minor thorn in the side of the mainstream faithful. Walking around the park was easier back then, or as we call it, the time before-before, and Mark could see many of his local friends from when he lived in the city, and there used to be a show. That has all changed. We did a few circuits around the edges of the event with our dog in tow and didn't make any connections, which he tells me he did not mind; it would have been excellent to see some friends, but just being out among our people was going to be reward enough. That capped off our weekend pilgrimage.
What I am working on today, Door Locks gone wrong.
One of my neighbors stopped by to tell me his dead bold was broken early this morning. I had a crack at fixing it, but there is no telling how successful that repair would be. I have been changing out locks as we turn over apartments, so I defaulted to that operation. I got ahead of myself at Ballers Hardware and tossed out the current key when I had them cut copies. I did not want to mix up the old key with the new key, so when I got home, I could not access the inside of the Door to finish the job. I will be finishing up this job in the dark.