Hey roomies! Just have to tell y'all, we moved near Portland Oregon a few years back, (my hubby and I live with our eldest son and his wife and children), and our son Tom took a new job with a major health provider up here. For reasons that are still unclear to me, Tom was elected to head up their committee for the gay and transgender employees. So today being Gay Pride Day in Portland, Tom had to be there, as he organized the companies participation in the days events this year. What a great time! The best "scotch movies" I have EVER seen! (For those of you who are unfamiliar, "Scotch movies" is just an old fashioned expression meaning people watching) What a great day it turned out to be. If you are unfamiliar with Portland, their city's motto is "Keep Portland Weird"(!!!) and man, they do a damned fine job of it! I tell people we live in Portlandia, cause truly, Portland IS very much like the Portlandia you see on the tv show! Today's activities was just more proof of the truth of that! What an unusual day! I cannot even begin to describe it, the closest I can come is to say that if you are old enough to have lived through the 70's, and you remember the "summer of love," then you can guess what this day in Portlandia was like! It was so reminiscent of the summer of love that I felt as though I had stepped back in time. The best part of the day in my opinion was the fact that there were thousands of people there, and not one drunk and disorderly incident, everyone was just intent on partying and having a great time and that is exactly what went down. I know for sure that I will be there next year, I wouldn't miss it for the world! It was just soooo Portlandia!! If any of you have the opportunity to be here in Portland for the gay pride day parade, I highly recommend it! You can be as straight as my family is, it won't matter, as long as you are tolerant of alternative life styles, I guarantee a great time will be had by all! Dudes in nothing but chaps, some of the most beautiful women I have ever seen, who almost all turned out to be men dressed in drag, oh yea, the "Scotch Movies" were the best ever! I used to live near Foxwoods, and as I love scotch movies more than just about any other pass time, I hardly ever missed a Saturday night at Foxwoods! Well, they cannot hold a candle to Portlandia!! This was my first Gay Pride Parade, even though I lived in Providence R.I. for years, (they have the largest most famous gay community and parade each year)and even though I have many gay and transgender friends and acquaintances, it's just not something that I ever thought I would enjoy. I could not have been further from wrong! It was my first, but it surely will not be the last! So many things to see that you never dreamed you would ever see, never even imagined existed! If you are a heterosexual like me, you just have to take in a Gay Pride Parade! It is definitely an eye opener, and in more ways than ten!! Great music, great people, lots of tolerance, which goes a long long way with me, it was just a fine way to spend a Sunday afternoon! Any one who is familiar with Portlandia knows these people know how to party down, but I had no idea how well the gay and transgender community also know how to have a great time, today was such an experience! Highly recommended to any one who is curious about other peoples lives, curious about lives that are vastly different from one's own, and any one who loves people! Good times, my friends, definitely good times!!
