On How We Sweat Our Face Off at Pride

Well, folks, Pride weekend has officially come and gone, and every last ounce of rainbow has been squeezed out of our veins. It was a hot weekend to be outside on hard, hot pavement drinking beer and scoping the scene, but we perservered so that we could have a tale to tell you people.

We didn't bother dragging ourselves to boy parties, so feel free to tell us all about those in the comments. However, we did our fair share of baking under the sun in the Wildrose beer garden where drinks were a little cheaper than we remember them being last year. Thank you to the Wildrose staff for giving us recession-era pricing on all activities. In addition to maybe lowering beer prices, they also expanded the beer garden so that it wrapped around the corner. It was a nice, welcome change, as it offered far more shaded seating and a place to go if you didn't want to be blasted by loud rock music.

The parade, as promised, was really damn long, and somehow devoid of many good floats. We thought the addition of a people's choice contest for best float would've inspired some creativity and some more than usual gay flair, but no. Maybe because of gas prices, or maybe because of the prices of everything else, most of the groups in the parade opted for just flat-out walking down the street with signs and costumes. We particularly enjoyed the belly dancers and the people dressed like fruit. With all its length and the inexorable heat of yesterday, Seattlest lucked out with our spot in the shade. Bless the hearts of the people across the street, though. You can't do anything but own it when you're stuck in the blaring sun and heat on Pride day. Props to all the girls who just went topless or wore those sheer shirts (though something's telling us those shirts aren't any breezier than a typical cotton tee).

After the parade, we headed to Seattle Center for the festivities but, as events at Seattle Center tend to go, we quickly found this one overcrowded and impossible to navigate. Two stages not very far apart were blasting two different kinds of music. It was probably a lot of fun if you're into that sort of thing, but we opted out and headed to Jabu's for beers with the girls. And, from there, it was off to the Zoo for the Indigo Girls show, where they were joined by their covert third member, local darling Brandi Carlile. Also there? A group of queer super heroes in rainbow colored capes. And plenty high, hot, beaming, maddening, torrential, baking sun.

How did you spend Pride? Stories! We want stories, people.

photo courtesy of Seattlest Flickr user ChrisB in SEA