ctseawa | I can haz pride

I dropped my car off in Ballard and met up with a friend who lives there. We went over to the apartment of two friends of his and had a great brunch. My friend made strata, the ladies made cinnamon rolls, etc. We headed for the bus downtown a bit later than we should - the first one was completely full and we were worried the second one (which would get us there late even if it was on time - which it was) would be full too so I called a cab company. Evidently Yellow Cab doesn't do vans so they sent two cars. Just as the cars were about to show up a bus came and there was room! I called and canceled the cabs (I saw them as we pulled out on the bus, oops) and we headed in to town.

We were supposed to meet up with

ljtourist there but when we got off the bus the ladies saw the dykes on bikes and headed for them. I did walk down to where Frank was sitting and chatted with him briefly but otherwise it was just the 6 of us. Paul suggested a great place next to a building - shade, a cool breeze, and some height above the crowds so we could actually see what was going on.

The parade and festival was a blast. I didn't get to stay at the festival very long because I had to catch a bus to Floating Leaves for the last mahjong game there (she's moving to a smaller shop where there won't be tea services, just supplies to purchase). I could have stayed at the festival longer, it turns out. I got to the stop in time to watch the bus leave and the next one was a good 10 minutes late so I could have had an extra half hour or so. Ah well. It was bloody hot so it's probably for the best that I spent that time in the shade at the bus stop.

I'm in the process of sorting the 501 pictures I took. They'll be on my gallery site sometime tonight if you're curious.